It has been reported that nearly 74,000 new viruses or strains were created every day of 2013. Every day. Granted, most of these are readily eliminated or mitigated by antivirus software and proper digital hygiene, but the fact remains that every day new threats emerge, with lessons learned from the previous day’s failures, ready to knock on your door once again. And these are bad actors that manipulate the infrastructure, seem to work only in their personal best interest, and very often show no signs of any redeeming value. Like Congress.

A Google and a Prayer

In light of the Leviathan-like growth of the malware trade, Google has announced that it is assembling a team of white knight hackers to engage the threat of zero-day threats head on. Project Zero will hunt bugs on a grand scale, focus on software that hits the consumer and enterprise markets, and try to stop future Heartbleeds before they happen. Team members include rock stars from the hacker subculture, and the effort seems akin to fighting fire with fire.

Proust: The Internet of Things Remembered

Like Proust’s novel, malware takes the smell of cookies and creates a sequence of code that is unrelenting. Interspersed with cries of “Just make it stop!” we ask ourselves why anyone would continue to create such a thing. While Proust remains a mystery in this regard, the malware market is a positive feedback loop. It finds reinforcement with the daily expansion of the internet, feeding on small victories afforded by friendly Nigerian princes and family friends stranded in remote parts of Europe,as luck would have it, without wallet or passport.

The bigger issue is that the Internet of Things (IoT) is projected to include 50 billion devices by 2020. Increased connectedness is great news to malware. More growth opportunities in the zero-day space, as it were.

Zero-Day, Zero Tolerance

Google’s dream team will have an impact, and software, including anti-virus software, should emerge safer and less vulnerable for their mighty efforts. This represents only a small part of your exposure, though, and it only takes one breach. One bug out of 74,000 a day and growing.

ICS can assemble the dream team for your organization. Put our cybersecurity professionals to work for you today, because 74,000 more bugs will be knocking on the door tomorrow.