The latest antivirus statistics show that there are many antivirus programs available to protect people and companies from cyber threats. However, with the rise of Internet users and electronic devices, there’s also an increase in viruses, malware attacks, spyware, and other threats.
Many people believe that avoiding suspicious websites and having smart browsing habits is enough to protect their devices. Even though that helps, some malware can still slip through.
With a little over half a million new malware threats being detected every day, one can only wonder if our devices can ever be safe from harm. So, let’s dig deeper into the numbers and find out.
Most Crucial Antivirus Stats (Editor’s Choice)
- Around 560,000 new malware pieces are detected each day.
- In 2000, the ILOVEYOU virus caused damages worth $10 billion.
- Kai Figge and Andreas Lüning created the first antivirus software in the late 80s.
- The average basic antivirus software costs $20–$50 a year.
- In 2020, 13% of antivirus software users purchased their first antivirus software.
- In the US, 45 million households rely on antivirus software for personal use.
- In 2020, the global security software revenue was nearly $50 billion.
- The antivirus market is projected to reach $4.54 billion in 2025.
Malware Statistics
Companies are at an increased risk, as hackers produce new malware types every year, making them harder to detect.
1. Every day, there are 560,000 new malware pieces detected.
(RankRed)
The nature of malware can be different, and many factors impact this. Some are the origin, spreading abilities, infected files, destructive process, and storage place.
In general, the most harmful malware is MyDoom, discovered in 2004. Furthermore, antivirus facts confirm that this malware gives a hard time to many antivirus software solutions since it is the fastest-spreading email worm.
2. Trojans are responsible for 58% of computer malware.
(Paubox)
This translates to them being the most common malware. However, that’s no surprise, given how easy it is to sneak this malware into websites, emails, and app downloads. Believe it or not, 94% of malware is sent through email.
At the same time, computer virus statistics note that viruses account for 13% of computer malware. Moreover, some other most frequent malware issues involve worms and scripts.
3. In the first quarter of 2020, 83% of all malware attacks were aimed at Windows.
(Paubox)
That’s an increase of 5% compared to 2019. However, that’s somewhat expected, seeing that Windows is the most common operating system globally. These attacks in early 2020 were the results of the numerous malicious software programs (over 114 million) hackers made in 2019.
4. Statistics about computer viruses find that the ILOVEYOU virus led to damages worth $10 billion in 2000.
(Antivirus)
This virus was considered the first global and extensive attack. In May of that year, this virus took down several big companies’ email servers. Unfortunately, the virus also harmed about 45 million users in only 10 days.
5. There are predictions that ransomware costs will probably be worth $265 billion by 2031.
(Forbes)
Lately, there has been a substantial rise in ransomware attacks, and all things point to these trends continuing in the future. In fact, estimates show that a new attack will occur every two seconds. Hopefully, given the latest antivirus data, maybe people will become more aware and take the necessary precautions, so these forecasts will not turn into reality.
On average, the reported monthly ransomware transactions were somewhere around $102.3 million in 2021. In addition, according to a report, the most frequent ransomware variants in the first half of 2021 were DarkSide, REvil/Sodinokibi, Avaddon, Phobos, and Conti.
General Antivirus Software Statistics
The security software industry offers many companies, and among the most popular ones are McAfee, NortonLifeLock, and TrendMicro. In fact, all of them have multi-billion-dollar revenues.
6. In 1987, Kai Figge and Andreas Lüning created the first antivirus software.
(Softpedia News)
They launched the first antivirus product—G Data Software for Atari ST. Furthermore, John McAfee created McAfee in 1987, and it grew to become one of the top security companies worldwide.
7. The average cost of antivirus software (a basic one) is $20–$50 annually.
(Top Ten Reviews)
Be that as it may, different brands offer different prices. Also, the cost depends on the number of covered devices.
More large-scale antiviruses cost about $80. The reason behind this is they come with at least three user licenses and include almost everything, such as VPNs, safe banking features, password managers, and mobile security.
8. 13% of antivirus software users bought antivirus software in 2020.
(Ask Wonder, Security)
Antivirus stats show that most users bought antivirus software for the first time before 2018. In fact, that was the case for 70% of them.
Generally speaking, those users who pay for antivirus software show greater faith in their protection compared to those using free versions.
9. In 2020, Kaspersky solutions blocked more than 666 million attacks.
(Kaspersky)
Online resources in several countries worldwide launched these attacks. Additionally, 86.47% of those resources were from only 10 countries.
More specifically, those countries were the US, the UK, India, France, Australia, Singapore, the Netherlands, Germany, Russia, and Brazil.
10. Antivirus detection rates improved between November 2019 and May 2020.
(AV Comparatives)
The study focused on the way 10 Android antivirus apps and 10 Windows antivirus products detected stalkerware strains.
For instance, in November 2019, the detection rates on Android were 30%, while they rose to 95% in May 2020. At the same time, the Windows antivirus products performed more poorly, with the highest rate of 70%.
Be that as it may, most Android and Windows product detection rates showed better results. In detail, 9 out of 10 products on Android detected 75%–95% of the testcases, and programs reached 100% on Windows.
Antivirus Usage Statistics
More and more people use antivirus software to impede, scan, detect and eliminate viruses from their devices. Moreover, a third of antivirus users use antivirus programs for personal use and work.
11. 50 million US households pay for antivirus software.
(Security)
In contrast, about 30 million users use free programs. Both paid and free programs are relatively effective at preventing attacks; however, paid users are 17% less likely to experience breakthrough viruses or malware.
12. Smartphone antivirus statistics reveal that 49% of US smartphone users have antivirus protection on their devices.
(Solution Suggest)
Moreover, half of the tablet users have this protection. In comparison, the percentage of laptop and desktop users with antivirus software is considerably higher. In other words, 80% of laptop and 89% of desktop users protect their devices with antivirus programs.
13. 50% of respondents think antivirus software is very useful.
(Security)
However, antivirus statistics also show that some don’t use it and think it’s not very useful—27%. As a matter of fact, 49% of people who don’t use this kind of protection note they don’t need it at all. Furthermore, 35% of non-users consider it too pricey, 22% say that their subscription has expired, whereas 16% claim there are other reasons for not using antivirus protection.
Antivirus Market Size
The worldwide antivirus software market was $3.80 billion in 2020. Furthermore, predictions show this number will keep rising in the future.
14. The global security software revenue was $49.7 billion in 2020.
(Statista, Statista)
In other words, that was a 10.3% increase from 2019, when the revenue was $43.2 billion. Each year, the revenue increases, so it’s safe to say that the industry is a growing market.
More specifically, antivirus analysis shows that the highest increase occurred between 2018 ($36.3 billion) and 2019 ($43.2 billion).
15. In 2020, North America was the largest part of the antivirus software market.
(Yahoo Finance, Transparency Market Research)
Furthermore, the second-largest region was Europe. As for the forthcoming years, the areas projected to make up most of this market (50%) are North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific.
Namely, the Asia Pacific antivirus software market is predicted to increase rapidly because of the rising need for protected enterprise data systems and the increasing number of companies.
16. The Symantec Corporation antivirus market share was 13.16% in mid-2020.
(Statista)
All in all, that was the highest market share of all the top Windows anti-malware application companies globally. That year, the second place belonged to Avast Software A.S., with 12.69% of the market share. Similarly, Eset also worked its way up to the top three, with 11.45% of the market share.
17. Antivirus sales statistics confirm that McAfee Corp.’s net revenue was $2.9 billion in 2020.
(Business Wire)
Moreover, in the fourth quarter of 2020, the net revenue was $777 million, translating to a 14% increase yearly.
Overall, 2020 was an excellent year for this antivirus company. It didn’t reach a significant increase only in revenue but also in profitability, subscribers, and cash flow.
18. According to antivirus trends, the antivirus software market will hit $4.54 billion in 2025.
(Globe Newswire)
That would equate to a CAGR of 3.2%. It goes without saying that this market is on a constant rise. The current increase is primarily because of the way companies return to their operations, adjusting to the new normal after all the restrictions, remote working, and the pause to commercial activities due to COVID-19 that caused operational challenges.
Summary of the Antivirus Statistics
Our whole life is stored in the devices we carry around, whether it’s our smartphone, laptop, or tablet. They contain photos of our childhood memories, wedding days or anniversaries, or all other data crucial to both our personal and work lives.
Now imagine all of that can be gone within minutes. Scary, right? Why put all that in danger when you can simply protect your devices with the best antivirus software?
The data we’ve gathered explains the risk of cyber threats and how to prevent them. So, if you don’t want to be a victim of these attacks, don’t wait but install antivirus software now.
People Also Ask
How effective is an antivirus?
Even though antivirus programs are extremely effective in identifying and blocking malware, they are rarely 100% effective. However, that doesn’t change the fact that they are fundamental in keeping your devices protected.
Additionally, a study examining the 10 most prevalent antivirus solutions found that their effectiveness ranges from 90% to 98%. As we can see, they are almost entirely effective.
The reason some programs aren’t 100% effective is closely related to the new malware being created every day. That is, these threats are highly unpredictable and sophisticated.
Which antivirus is most effective?
Although many people think all antivirus solutions provide the same level of effectiveness, that’s not the case at all. The most effective antivirus programs offer several crucial features.
Firstly, its scanning features should be impeccable. That means it should perform boot sector scanning, scan downloads and emails, and offer the ability to schedule a scan. Another vital feature is speed.
Moreover, because of the rise in identity theft, the antivirus should always verify your identity. It should also warn you and protect your email against malware. Finally, to be most effective in detecting new threats, the antivirus should be able to update automatically.
Which antivirus has the best detection rate?
One of the top antivirus software solutions is Avast Free Antivirus, as many independent real-world tests reveal it scores between 99.9% and 100%.
Not only is it an award-winning security tool, but its test results also show it delivers top security. All in all, it is an excellent protection program for your customer data, IP, business strategy, VPN, servers, email, and similar.
Is antivirus 100% safe?
Even though people believe they don’t need antivirus programs as they can take precautions and stay safe, data shows that’s not enough. If you want to be 100% safe, you definitely need quality antivirus software.
On the one hand, not all antivirus solutions on the market provide the necessary protection against cyber threats, and many are created poorly. On the other hand, the best ones protect you completely from advanced threats, like phishing websites, identity theft, and network hacks.
How many computer viruses are released every month?
Computer viruses are becoming more and more common. Unfortunately, data shows that as many as 6,000 new viruses are created and released per month.
On top of that, plenty of emails sent worldwide include viruses. Even though many people are aware of this and don’t fall into these tricks, about half of them still open links sent from unknown senders.
How big is the antivirus market?
According to the latest findings, the global antivirus software market reached almost $4 billion. In particular, it was $3.80 billion in 2020.
Moreover, estimates show the market will keep increasing in the future. Namely, with a CAGR of 3.8%, it is predicted to get to $4.54 billion by 2025.
However, the market wouldn’t be as big without the contributions of several regions. They include North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific, antivirus statistics show.
