Malware levels have risen threefold in the last year, according to security experts.
Researchers from McAfee said that over the first six months of 2009, the company observed more than 1.2 million new malware samples online. The figure breaks down to roughly 6,000 new pieces of malware per day.
By comparison, the company logged just over 400,000 pieces of malware in the first half of 2008, and less than 300,000 pieces of malware in all of 2007.
In a company blog posting, McAfee Avert Labs director of research and communication Dave Marcus said that the increase in malware is a by-product of the explosion in cybercrime over recent years.
"There are many reasons why malware continues to grow but it is mainly a criminal’s game at this point," Marcus wrote.
"The tools and code are readily available and that will certainly not change but it is also definitely not doomsday."
The huge increase in malware over recent years has also forced security firms to change the way new threats are handled.
In an effort to keep up with the huge flow of new threats, many vendors have begun to phase out the use of daily signature updates in favour of web-based networks which allow companies to report new threats and distribute protective measures to customers throughout the day.