Hackers and cybercriminals have become so aggressive in developing sophisticated technologies designed to attack unsuspecting companies, government agencies, and individual internet users lately. The threats these guys pose on the internet have become so severe that Symantec says about one million malwares were released into the cyberspace on a daily basis just last year alone.

Last year was a particularly glorious year for the cybercriminals where major attacks were launched against the world’s largest companies and most well-known personalities.

No one can ever forget the painful damage that hackers have permanently inflicted on entertainment giant Sony, much less the leaked naked photos of famous celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence.

It was also in the same year that cybercriminals were able to steal huge sums from big retail industries such as Home Depot and others.

Last year was their year.

Companies scramble to secure themselves from these very real threats, but the rate at which the cybercriminals are able to come up with hazardous malwares have now become too overwhelming that the industries now struggle to guard themselves effectively.

Symantec reports that about 317 malwares were produced from last year alone— a rate that’s undeniably too hard for today’s internet security to keep up with. The malwares produced from the past year range from computer viruses to malicious softwares— plenty of them successful in inflicting the damages they were made to make.

Aside from the incredibly fast rate at which the malwares were produced each day, the fact that these malicious softwares have become so sophisticated and deceiving has made them even more effective.

There were some instances wherein the malware was introduced into a company’s system as a system update, and as members of the unsuspecting corporations update their systems, the malware is free to attack their database.

It is said that most malwares that cybercriminals have expertly developed were built around loopholes in systems that have been around for more than a decade. Although companies are aware of these loopholes, not much has apparently been done to get them fixed.

According to Bob Rudis, a Verizon security data scientist, the reason why these loopholes are left unfixed isn’t because they could not be fixed, but rather because no one even bothers to have them fixed.

“While it seems like a no brainer for fix some of these things, organizations care more about making widgets. They just don’t have the manpower or time.”

Cybercriminals have become increasingly dangerous over the course of time. From plain hacking and cyberthieving, online criminals have now resorted to digital extortions and ransomwares to prey on their victims.

The sad part is, it seems that not a lot can be done to fight these online criminals— at least for the time being.