Independent test lab AV-Test today counted its 50 millionth virus today, and reports that nearly 20 million new viruses and other malicious software were discovered in 2010.

That comes out to about 55,000 new viruses each day, 2,300 per hour, 38 per minute, and one every two seconds, according to Website AV-Test.

So far this year, the lab has gathered some 704,984 different malware types in its repository. A little history for perspective: In 1985, the lab collected just 553 different viruses; in the year 2000, 176,312 viruses; and in 2006, more than 1 million. Last year alone, AV-Test found nearly 20 million different malware variants.

"Andreas Marx at AV-Test has shared some more information which highlights the significance of the malware problem," blogged Alex Eckelberry, CEO of Sunbelt Software. "The numbers are staggering -- AV-Test processed an average of 54k samples per day in 2010, up from an average of 33k in 2009 -- and up from 426 samples per day just a decade ago."

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