The sheer scale of digital threats is often difficult to comprehend, but the malware research group vx-underground offers a tangible perspective with its vast collection of malware source code, totaling approximately 30 terabytes. To illustrate the immensity of this data, the team at TechCrunch undertook an exercise to visualize how these digital archives would appear if stacked as physical hard drives.
Visualizing 30 Terabytes of Malware
Using standard 1 terabyte capacity internal hard drives as a unit of measurement, vx-underground’s 30 terabytes of malware data would translate to 30 individual hard drives. If stacked one atop another, this collection would form a tower reaching approximately 30 inches, or roughly 2.5 feet in height.
For context, this height is significant, though dwarfed by architectural marvels. For instance, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the world’s tallest building, stands at an imposing 2,722 feet.
A Comparison with VirusTotal
The visualization extends to an even larger dataset from VirusTotal, which reportedly holds around 31 petabytes of malware samples. This equates to approximately 31,744 hard drives. When stacked vertically, this gargantuan amount of data would reach an astonishing height of about 2,645 feet. To put this into perspective, the Eiffel Tower, standing at 1,083 feet, would be surpassed by VirusTotal’s data stack, measuring roughly two and a half times its height.
These comparisons underscore the colossal volume of data associated with cybersecurity threats and the ongoing efforts by researchers like vx-underground to analyze and understand them.
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Disclaimer:** This article is based on data visualizations and comparisons and does not endorse or encourage any activities related to malware.
