It took 18 years for our database to reach 100 000 malicious threats - and just under two years to double to 200 000, says Chris van Niekerk, regional director of McAfee SA. Although security awareness continues to improve, hackers and malicious code authors are releasing threats faster than ever before, with approximately 200% more malicious threats per day than two years ago.

While bots are still the leading cause of this dramatic growth, exploits and downloaders run a close second. E-mail threats, which made up a large percentage of the number of threats in 2004, saw significantly smaller growth over the last two years when compared to other categories of malware.

In 2004, McAfee added 27 340 new threats to its database. In 2005, it added 56 880 new threats. Since January 1, 2006, McAfee has added approximately 32 000 new threats to its database, and is on track to exceed 60 000 new threats by the end of this year.

Given current trends, McAfee expects the 400 000th threat to be identified in less than two years. McAfee recommends that to stay protected, both enterprises and consumers remain updated with the latest DATs, install the latest patches, and implement a multi-layered approach to detecting and blocking attacks.