Malware proliferating four times faster than in 2007

McAfee is spotting 60,000 new pieces a day

New malware is proliferating at an eye-watering rate, according to security vendor McAfee, which said it is spotting 60,000 new pieces a day - nearly four times the amount that was being generated three years ago.

According to McAfee's latest Threat Report, there have been more than 14 million unique pieces of malware released in 2010 - one million more than at the same time last year.

The plague of infected computers known as botnets continues to represent a significant threat to corporate networks. According to McAfee, botnets based on the Cutwail malware launched more than 300 denial-of-service attacks against high profile targets, including law-enforcement agencies such as the US Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

"Our Q3 Threat Report shows that cyber criminals are not only becoming more savvy, but attacks are becoming increasingly more severe," said Mike Gallagher, chief technology officer of global threat intelligence for McAfee. "Cyber criminals are doing their homework, and are aware of what's popular, and what's insecure. They are attacking mobile devices and social networking sites."

McAfee also reported a surge in the number of email attacks, where criminals have used messages appearing to come from well-known companies such as FedEx and Western Union, to deliver malware to unsuspecting users.

The one bright spot was spam, where levels of email classified as spam were at the lowest point since 2008.