As we wait for year-end reports, many people are of the opinion this will be another record year for new strains of malicious code/software. 

Symantec reported that 430 million new and unique strains of malware were released in 2015, an increase of 36 percent from 2014. Projections for 2016 are as high as 600 million new strains. That's about 20 new strains of malware per second! 

The news gets worse. On Oct. 21 we experienced a substantial distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack that used over 100,000 internet of things devices that were connected to the internet and virtually unprotected. Botnets based on compromised IoT devices used to launch DDoS attacks is becoming routine. They are an attractive tool for hackers and those launching or providing DDoS attack services.

With the projected growth of IoT devices — most of which will be unprotected — the October DDoS attack is clearly a sign of things to come if we continue down the same path. In 2000, some media outlets reported that " DDoS attacks may land you in court."

Sixteen years later, we are still facing the same issues and challenges. The U.S. has been identified as the top tech country in the world. As such, you would think that we should have been able to make progress on the risks posed by computers, devices and equipment being connected to the internet without any cybersecurity on them.

Maybe litigation against manufacturers of unprotected devices that are used in a cyberattack will force action.

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