48 Antivirus Statistics, Facts and Insights That You Must Know

We cannot imagine how difficult our lives would be without having an antivirus. They are a key factor for our security and privacy on any device. The protection provided against all threats is essential. This widespread usage of antivirus tools has led us to some interesting Antivirus statistics and facts.

We’ll take a look at the best ones in this post. Here, you will find the most interesting Antivirus Statistics, Facts, and Insights. Just go through these and you’ll find yourself amazed.

48 Most Interesting Antivirus Statistics, Facts, and Insights

As technology worldwide is advancing every day, the risk factors are also increasing. One of those risks is a ‘virus’ or ‘malware.’ Malware or virus is defined as any malicious program that is developed to cause damage or prevent normal functioning on a computer system. Antivirus becomes a savior in this case.

When you install an antivirus program on your PC, you protect yourself against all the threats. That’s why there are hardly any PC or mobiles now that do not have an active antivirus program. These Antivirus Statistics, Facts, and Insights will help you to understand how many of us rely completely on them for our protection. And, how it helps the Antivirus market to grow at a rapid rate.

Facts About The Origin & Development of Antivirus

  • In 1971, the first known virus was created. It was named as the ‘Creeper Virus.’ It spread through the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), which was the world’s first digital networking communications method.
  • The Creeper Virus showed the message “I’m the creeper, catch me if you can!” on infected computers.

  • Creeper virus was finally defeated by a program called The Reaper. Ray Tomlinson created it.

  • The first-ever true antivirus is “The Reaper.”
  • American computer scientists Frederick B. Cohen coined the term ‘Virus’ in 1983.

  • The first official antivirus developed after two years. They named it as ‘Self-Reproduction Software.’
  • Andreas Lüning and Kai Figge invented the first antivirus software in 1987. They both were German scientists and also the founder of G Data Software.

  • In 1981, Richard  Skrenta created the ‘Elk Cloner’ for Apple II Systems. It infected the Apple DOS 3.3 and spread through the floppy disk transfer. It was the first computer virus to cause a massive outbreak in history.

  • In 1986, Farooq Alvi Brothers created the first IBM PC virus in Lahore, Pakistan. They developed it to prevent unauthorized copying of their software.

  • The next year, Bernd Fix performed the first publicly documented removal of an ‘in the wild’ computer virus (The Vienna virus).

  • In 2000, Rainer Link and Howard Fuhs started the first open-source antivirus engine. They named it OpenAntiVirus Project.

Antivirus Statistics & Facts About Users and Usage

  • There are over 900 million antivirus users in the world.
  • Every 5th internet user has experienced a virus attack once.
  • 89% of desktop users use antivirus software.
  • 80% of laptop users have installed an antivirus program.

Image Source: Kaspersky Lab

  • Antivirus programs detect around 350,000 viruses every day globally.
  • The most malware attacks in a single year happened in 2018 (10.52 billion attacks).
  • Trojans are the most common malware.
  • Ransomware is used in 0.3% of all internet attacks.

  • BitDefender is the most popular free antivirus. Avast and AVG rank 2nd and 3rd on this list.

  • McAfee, Kaspersky, and ZoneAlarm have the highest virus detection rates.
  • 4% of Windows Defender users detect malware every month.

  • Around 50% of Windows 7 computers don’t have an antivirus tool.
  • Currently, more than 1 billion pieces of malware are circulating on the internet.

Mobile Antivirus Stats & Facts

  • In 2018, around 116.5 million malware attacks were directed at mobile devices. In 2017, they were just 66.4 million.
  • Only 49% of mobile users have an antivirus app installed.
  • 50% of tablet users have an antivirus app.

  • There are 1.5 billion mobile devices with antivirus apps installed in the world. In 2013, this number was just 325 million.
  • RiskTool is the most common mobile virus. It accounts for 54% of all infected devices.

  • The 2nd most common mobile virus is Trojan-Dropper (17.21%) and 3rd is AdWare (8.4%).
  • In 2018, Kaspersky protected most mobile users from threats. It provided protection to over 10 million users.
  • Most mobile infections occurred in 2016 with 3.6 million+ infections.
  • 50% of the Android antivirus apps don’t work at all.

Demographic Antivirus Statistics & Insights

  • Males are more security conscious than females. 60% of male internet users use antivirus while only 45% of female users have it.
  • Young people tend to install antivirus programs more. The average age of antivirus users is 16 to 34 years old.
  • The country with the most infected computers with malware is China. 47% of Chinese computers are infected by some form of malware.
  • Other countries with high infection rates are Turkey (43%), Taiwan (39%), and Russia (36%).

Image Source: Statista

  • Sweden has the least number of infected computers in the world. They have only 20% of computers with infection.
  • The country with the most infected mobile devices is ‘Pakistan.’ 38% of their mobiles are infected with malware.
  • Iran comes 2nd on this list with 32% of infected mobiles.
  • The maximum number of antivirus users are in the USA.
  • 52% of all attackers target the USA every day.

Financial Antivirus Statistics, Facts & Insights

  • Global Antivirus Software market is worth $38 billion.
  • Analysts expect it to be over $43 billion by 2024.
  • From 2018 to 2020, the global Antivirus Market grew by 48%.
  • ESET holds the most market share (12.89%). McAfee Inc comes 2nd with 11.9% share, and Symantec Corporation comes 3rd with 10.27% share.

  • The average cost of antivirus software for a year is around $30. But, the average cost is $80 for complete PC security.
  • In 2000, a virus knows as ILOVEYOU caused $10 billion worth of damage in just a few days. It was the most widespread computer virus of all time. It infected over 10% of all internet users at that time.

8 Best CyberSecurity Stocks in 2020

  1. Palo Alto Networks (NYSE:PANW) $21.3 billion.
  2. Splunk (NASDAQ:SPLK) $20.5 billion.
  3. Check Point Software (NASDAQ:CHKP) $17.9 billion.
  4. CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) $17.5 billion.
  5. Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA) $15.4 billion.
  6. Fortinet (NASDAQ:FTNT) $14.9 billion.
  7. Symantec (NASDAQ:NLOK) $14.0 billion.
  8. Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ:AKAM) $13.6 billion.

Final Take

Antivirus programs have become an essential part of our life on a computer. We can’t imagine how bad we’d suffer if they weren’t there to protect us. These are some of the most interesting Antivirus statistics, facts, and insights. If you know about some more, don’t forget to drop them in the comments.

That’s all for this post. I hope you find it useful. If you have any questions related to anything written here, feel free to ask us.