Around half of new security threats such as viruses, worms and trojans last for only 24 hours, according to research.
Panda Security said that 52 per cent of new malware spread and infected users for only around a day.
After this they became inactive and harmless, replaced by variants that became the new wave of malware.
Any malware that did survive would have its code changed, so users and security vendors would find it harder to detect it.
Panda said this was due to malware writers trying to make a profit by making sure that their creations survived.
"This a never-ending race which, unfortunately, the hackers are still winning," said technical director of PandaLabs Luis Corrons in a statement.
"We have to wait until we get a hold of the malware they have created to be able to analyse, classify and combat it."
