On January 2, 2007, we posted the first DAT files (4930) of the new year. On that day, the public count of threats detected stood at 221,935. Fast-forward to December 31, when we released the last DAT (5196) of 2007, and the public count of threats detected finished at an almost unbelievable 357,820.

That’s a total of 135,885 unique threats that we at Avert Labs identified throughout 2007. But let me put that into further context:

• 372 new detections per calendar day in 2007

• 527 new detections per business day in 2007

• One driver written every 4 minutes in 2007

• 38% of all detections were added this year.

• 25,438 more detections were added this year than in 2005 and 2006 combined. (Those two years totaled 110,447.)

Scary numbers any way you break them down. One could almost say that malware creation has reached epidemic proportions. As many who read this blog already know, the number of sample files we receive per day to analyze is increasing in record numbers–some days, we can get upwards of 2,000 samples per hour from various sources. We are seeing more malware than ever before, even though the lifespan of most malware is decreasing! The average lifespan of malware with criminal intent may only be 5 to 7 hours. Most of it is static and obfuscated. Much of it is stealthy. Never forget that it is almost completely financially motivated these days. Just think of where Pablo Escobar, Al Capone, or even Tony Montana would sink their money today–into malware.

Data security and the security industry itself have seen many changes throughout 2007. Technologies such as virtualization and RFID will have an enormous impact on data security, posing new challenges (and some of the same old ones) to the industry as we move forward to secure these new vectors.