Did you know that there are over 650 million unique pieces of malware in the world right now? You may have heard the claims that anti-virus companies create viruses and malware for their own benefit. While getting caught up in conspiracy theorizing can be entertaining – this one simply isn’t true. There are hundreds of anti-virus companies competing with each other globally, with employees who continually move between them to advance their careers. If one company created their own malware, it would be easy for an ex-employee or colleague to spill the beans and gain a competitive advantage – either to make more money, or as a responsible whistle-blower. As the number of major malware incidents only grows in number and severity, the cyber security industry faces continual scrutiny from journalists, independent testing organizations, companies, and individuals. To pull off this conspiracy theory, hundreds of thousands of talented cyber security individuals would need to be involved, and the likelihood of this is slim to none. While anti-virus companies aren’t creating malware themselves, there are plenty of cyber criminals who do. According to AV-Test, there are roughly 650 million unique samples of malware out there in the world right now, and it is vital now more than ever that your business is protected.