Anti-Malware Market for Windows Is Still Wide Open

Qakbot, a trojan malware targeting Microsoft systems, resurfaced stronger and more advanced than in previous years during the first part of 2019. According to Microsoft between January 1, 2019 and March 29, 2019 one of Microsoft’s customer service accounts was compromised, allowing hackers to access and view information from the infected email’s accounts.

A trojan horse is a type of virus that often appears to be legitimate software, prompting users to enter login credentials. This virus has been around and targeting Windows Microsoft systems since 2008. What made this bout of Qakbot more virulent was the ways hackers are advancing the virus’ cloaking capabilities. The end goal of this type of malware is to gain access to login credentials and access a firms’ back accounts or financial data.

The anti-malware market for Windows still has no clear leader. AVAST Software currently holds 15 percent of the market, according to metadefender.com. McAfee has about 13 percent of the anti-malware app market for Windows systems, putting them directly behind AVAST.