By Antony Mutunga
Cyber criminals have been evolving at a faster rate, especially after an increase in online users during the pandemic. This has seen 2021 being a good year for hackers, especially against Microsoft windows,
As at November 2021, a record of over 100mn malwares were developed mainly to target Microsoft windows, and to pry on unexpected users according to a report by Atlas VPN and AV-TEST GmbH.
The data, which was provided by AV-TEST GmbH, an independent research institute for IT security and analysed by Atlas VPN, identified 107.28mn new threats. Compared to the previous year (2020), there was a 18% increase, or 16.53mn new malwares in 2021. As remote working was popular, cyber-attackers were busy refining their skills. With so many targets it isn’t a surprise they managed about 330,000 unique malwares on a daily basis.
There are a number of aspects of Windows’ architecture that have come back to bite it in the past – Windows is never designed with security in mind. It cannot be comparison to Linux and macOS, which were always supposed to be multi-user systems in which you log in with different user accounts. Initially, Windows never had such a functionality, and it would be built on top of Disk Operating System (DOS), a single-user OS that had very few security restrictions.
As a result, ever since 2012, hackers have identified major loopholes and increased their attention on the system, creating new malware types at a quick rate. In fact, according to the data analysed, the quantity of the malicious software samples has grown by 23% year on year, or 95mn new malware types every year.
Not only does this highlight the quick evolvement of hackers but it also implies that hackers are increasing in number. The scenario will even get more worse thanks to technology advancing further and computer skills being easy to come by. Many are investing in the trade of computer programming.
With more users online, the lure of making quick cash from unprepared users will also become very attractive. Hackers are now merging: the obvious reason of this kind of partnership is to make more users victims.
Nowadays hackers are more in the open and they can communicate with each other unlike years before when they generally worked in hiding.
The fact that hiring hackers has also been made easier, and affordable, anyone with a vendetta against a company, or an individual can acquire the services in the dark web, regardless of their age. Â
Writer is an accountant working for The Nairobi Law Monthly, a sister paper of the Nairobi Business Monthly.
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