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Our annual Global Security Report, which highlights email and Web-borne malware threats from the previous year, is out on shelves. Our findings indicate that botnets are making malware and spam campaigns more accessible than ever, which likely contributed to 2016's escalation in malware activity—which clocked in at 15.5 billion malicious emails and 30.4 billion spam emails during 2016. The report also includes metrics from Web-borne threats, reporting an average of 40 million unique threats daily throughout the second quarter.

The report notes that in addition to traditional hardware like personal computers, the Internet of Things (IoT) delivers a new catalogue of devices that can be hacked for nefarious purposes. Smart watches, mobile phones, and smart assistants offer botnets millions of more devices that can be used to deliver their malware campaigns, or even to gather data on unfortunate consumers.

The report also includes predictions for 2017, including:

Acts of cyber aggression will become the new front lines between nation states Mobile malware will become a household name IoT botnets will continue to wreak havoc Ransomware will continue to be the most prolific threat on the Web New legislation will be passed to give more investigative powers to law enforcement

To read the full report, visit https://www.appriver.com/about-us/security-reports/global-security-report-end-of-year-2016/