In a new report, security firm Sophos warns that the prevalence of computer security software is growing faster than the industry can keep up.
Sophos found that of the more than 6.7 million computer security products sold in the U.S. in 2014, fewer than 1 percent of those products were updated annually.
And that trend has been accelerating since the beginning of the year.
“As of July 31, 2015, there were 1.7 billion active users, with approximately 7.5 billion users logged in for a total of 9.3 billion users,” the company wrote in its report.
“At the same time, more than a billion active installs of malware protection software and/or protection software-based antivirus products had been logged in as of the end of July.”
That makes 2014 the first year since the first commercial computer security product was released in 1995 when there were fewer than a million active users.
The report said that more than half of the software installed on the devices used to perform the daily tasks of daily living and business activities are “computer blocking” and/and “software-based anti-virus software.”
Sophos’ report also said that “more than half” of the devices were infected with spyware or malware.
As more of the Internet is used to communicate, Sophos said, “security software is becoming the key tool in protecting users’ data.”
The report is just one of many recent reports that have warned of the increasing number of security flaws that malware is able to exploit.
For example, security researcher Matt Mullenweg recently warned that a recent exploit in the popular Adobe Flash software could allow attackers to take over a target’s PC and take over its operating system.
Last month, researchers at cybersecurity firm Trend Micro said that the Adobe Flash Player exploit could be used to launch cyberattacks on a variety of devices.
And just last week, the security firm Kaspersky Lab warned that the software used to control a botnet, known as the Flame botnet or FlameBot, had been breached and compromised.
“It is very likely that the FlameBot botnet has been compromised, and the Flamebot exploit could lead to a new wave of botnet activity,” the researchers wrote.
Even with the growing prevalence of malware, security experts say it’s important to keep a close eye on what you’re installing on your computer.
The latest report, from security firm AVG, noted that malware has been steadily growing in popularity for several years now.
It noted that in 2013, there was just over 1.3 million malware-infected PCs.
Last year, that number jumped to 2.6 million.
A large part of the rise in malware is due to the rise of new software like AV-Comparatives, which can identify malware in applications and apps and then detect and remove it, according to the report.
The company’s research showed that more software than ever before has been installed, including antivirus programs, anti-malware software, and even ransomware software.
The report also noted that new malware was also being created to target the U,S.
military, government agencies, and others.
In its latest report , AV-Score said that software from several different companies, including Microsoft, Apple, and Google, was “the most prevalent malware on mobile devices, including laptops, desktops, and smartphones.”
“The trend continues,” said John C. O’Sullivan, principal security researcher for AVG.
“Software has always been a critical part of cyberattacks, but it is increasingly the case that we are seeing a lot of malware that is designed to penetrate and infect the user’s system.”