Employees download new malware every four seconds, Check Point finds

Unknown malware attacks have increased nine-fold from 2015, driven primarily by employees who accidentally install malicious software onto their company's network – at a rate of every four-seconds, according to a recent Check Point report. At this rate, 971 unknown malware downloads occur every hour, which is exponentially greater than 2015, when it was 106 downloads per hour. In fact, one in five employees cause network breach through either mobile malware or malicious Wi-Fi.
Further, about 12 million new malware variants were discovered - each month. The report found more new malware discovered in the last two years than in the last 10 years. Check Point's researchers analyzed over 31,000 Check Point gateways to determine malware trends and threats facing organizations, the impact successful breaches have on organizations and financial effects beyond remediation costs.