An at-a-glance 2016 Year in Review Malware Infographic, with a close look at the fastest-growing attack vector of the past year: Ransomware. PhishMe’s research team found that the explosive growth of ransomware was the most significant trend of 2016. The extraordinary increase in the number of ransomware attacks made destructive malware a fixture on the threat landscape. The infrastructure supporting ransomware has become sophisticated and immense.

PhishMe’s 2016 Malware Year in Review Report shows that threat actors distributed huge numbers of diverse ransomware payloads for the greatest return on their investments. Threat actors never forgot about the value of information. Malware designed to steal information – financial or otherwise – was still very prevalent and the numbers of distinct attacks using this category of malware tool keeps its position as a favorite for threat actors.