2013 was a big year for cyber criminals, with 20 per cent of all malware ever created appearing throughout the year.
Cloud anti-malware firm Panda Security released a new report showing that 30 million new malware strains were released in 2013. That's an average rate of 82,000 per day.
The increasing popularity of Google's Android mobile operating system saw the creation of two million new Android malware threats last year.
Despite the huge boost in malware, the proportion of infected computers across the globe was very similar to 2012 levels at 31.53 per cent.
A gift horse
Trojans remain the top threat, accounting for 77.11 per cent of all malware. However, Panda noticed a marked resurgence of ransomware like the infamous CryptoLocker, which encrypts user files and demands payment for the decryption key.
Trojans caused 78.97 per cent of infections, followed by viruses at 6.89 per cent, and worms at 5.83 per cent.
China, Turkey and Ecuador saw the highest rates of infection at 54.03 per cent, 42.15 per cent and 40.35 per cent respectively. The lowest infection rates were in Sweden, Norway and Finland, at 20.28 per cent, 21.13 per cent, and 21.22 per cent respectively.
Panda predicts that the Internet of Things and Android devices will be the focal point of malware in 2014, with hundreds of thousands of new malware expected to enter circulation.
