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Linux may be getting a boost as more and more devices are powered by the operating system, but with popularity inevitably comes scammers, with new reports claiming that the number of malware targeting the software will skyrocket by 2022.
Atlas VPN findings, based on data from threat intelligence platform AV-ATLAS, claim there were 1.9 million new Linux malware threats in 2022, bringing the figure up 50% year-on-year.
Most of the new Linux (opens in new tab) Malware samples were discovered in the first three months of the year, the report continues.
Secure operating system
In the first quarter of 2022, researchers discovered 854,690 new species. In the second quarter, the number was down 3%, with 833,065 new strains being detected.
Malware developers for Linux must have taken a sabbatical in the third quarter of the year as the number of new detections plummeted 91% to 75,841. In the fourth quarter of the year, the numbers picked up again and grew by 117% to 164,697.
Despite these findings, Linux is still a “highly secure operating system,” the researchers say.
“Linux’s open-source nature allows for constant review by the technical community, leading to fewer exploitable security vulnerabilities. In addition, Linux restricts administrative privileges for users and, compared to more widely used operating systems such as Windows, is still less targeted by malware.”
But scammers won’t stop looking for vulnerabilities in the world’s fifth most popular operating system, and businesses and consumers alike should always be on the lookout, the researchers conclude.
Linux may not be as popular as Windows or macOS, but it is a widely used operating system. From Android devices (which are built on Linux), to Chromebooks, video cameras, portable devices, to all kinds of servers (web servers, database servers, email servers, etc.) there are over 32 million endpoints running on Linux.