More than a quarter of UK PCs could be affected by malware

The number of malware being identified seems to be growing unabated as security outfit Pandalabs claims to have identified more than 20 million new malware samples for the first quarter of 2015.

The majority of these are variants of existing malware rather than new malware, designed to evade detection by software security companies, mimicking what happens with biological viruses.

Trojans are by far the most common malware with viruses, worms and adware/spyware following.

Data collected by the security outfit shows that more than a quarter of UK computers with Pandalabs products installed "came in contact with malware", which the firm is quick to underline, doesn't mean that they were infected.

Wide reach

That number rose to 48% for Chinese computers and 34% for US ones. Globally, the rate of infection reached 36.51% up six percent compared to 2014, which means that up to one in three computers could be compromised.

Ransomware made the headlines over the past few months with Cryptolocker hitting users in its many variants and that particular malware strand being identified as the biggest threat ever to hit customers.

• Best free antivirus software 2015

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