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MacOS Malware Surged Over 1000% in 2020

March 22, 2021

TechRadar Pro reported on March 21 that a report from Atlas VPN found that the development of macOS malware surged by 1,092% in 2020 as hackers increasingly targeting Apple’s computing devices, including the all-new M1 Macs.

674,273 new malware samples were detected in 2020 – a giant rise from the previous year, when there were only 56,556 samples detected.

Atlas VPN noted that if all the new malware detected since it began tracking in 2012 until 2019 was combined, this would result in 219,257 samples – far below the number seen in 2020.

Definitely a sobering statistic.

“Contributing to this record surge in threats is the fact that new malicious software is now easier to engineer than ever before,” noted Rachel Welch, COO of Atlas VPN.

“Nowadays, hackers don’t even need advanced programming skills since they can purchase a ready-made malware code, tailor it to their needs with a little bit of coding, and establish a completely new threat.”

In spite of the huge rise in macOS malware, Atlas VPN reports that the number of attacks aimed at Windows users remained much higher. The company reported a record-high of 91.05 million new Windows malware samples were discovered in 2020 – an average of 249,452 threats per day, so there were over 135 times more Windows threats than macOS threats in 2020.

No surprise there, but the growth in macOS malware may spell trouble for Apple in the future. There is always a price to be paid for success, and that price involves attracting the attention of cybercriminals.

Hat tip to Dave Ries.

Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President, Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
3975 University Drive, Suite 225|Fairfax, VA 22030
Email:  Phone: 703-359-0700
Digital Forensics/Cybersecurity/Information Technology
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