F-Secure reports that the number of malware signatures they were monitoring in 2007 doubled from about one-quarter million to about one-half million. The majority of the increase represents variations of known malware programs. According to F-Secure, the growth in the number of non-novel malware programs indicates that innovative malware is on the decline and malware developers are focusing on quantity over quality as a strategy to overwhelm detection programs.

The company states that malware developers were partial to Trojans in 2007 and will continue Trojan development in 2008. Trojan programs, which purport to do one thing, but accomplish something else, are being used by organized crime operations to collect personal and financial information for profit.

F-Secure also notes the ongoing saga of Storm, and an increased interest in malware for Apple's OS X operating system, spurred by the release of the high-profile iPhone, the introduction of Leopard and the release of Safari for Windows.