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Trojans account for more than 70 percent of opportunistic email attacks
Analysis by Mimecast of 67 billion attack emails between April and June this year reveals that opportunistic attacks are dominated by Trojans, which make up 71 percent.
Targeted attacks are lower in volume but are specifically designed to get past commodity malware scanners by using newly detected or updated malware not detectable with file signatures.
The evolution of Emotet: How to protect your network
With over 350,000 new malware samples emerging every day, it’s difficult for any one strain of malware to make a name for itself. Any single malware sample whose name you know -- be it Mirai, WannaCry, or NotPetya -- speaks to a trail of devastation.
In 2019, people are also hearing another name: Emotet.
Banking malware grows as cryptominers decline
The latest mid-year Cyber Attack Trends Report from Check Point shows mobile banking malware attacks are up 50 percent compared to the first half of 2018, while the number of organizations hit by cryptominers is down to 26 percent, from 41 percent last year.
Among the top banking malware variants are Ramnit (28 percent), a Trojan that steals banking credentials, FTP passwords, session cookies and personal data; Trickbot (21 percent), which first emerged in October 2016; and Ursnif (10 percent) a Trojan that targets the Windows platform.
Emotet botnet down for maintenance
June's Global Threat Index from Check Point reveals that the botnet behind the Emotet banking Trojan has been inactive for most of the month.
Check Point's researchers believe that Emotet's infrastructure could be offline for maintenance and upgrade operations, and that as soon as its servers are up and running again, it will be reactivated with new, enhanced threat capabilities.
BitDefender releases free decryption tool for GandCrab ransomware
Security firm BitDefender has teamed up with the FBI, Europol and other agencies and created decryption software that enables ransomware victims to get their data back for free.
The tool can be used to retrieve files encrypted by the GandCrab family of ransomware which is thought to have originated in Russia. GandCrab has been active for around a year and a half, and hundreds of thousands of people have fallen victim to it.
Organizations urged to patch for BlueKeep as latest malware charts are revealed
Check Point Research, has released its Global Threat Index for May 2019 and is warning organizations to check and patch for the BlueKeep Microsoft RDP flaw in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 machines, to prevent the risk of it being exploited for ransomware and cryptomining attacks.
BlueKeep affects nearly a million machines accessible to the public internet and many more within organizations' networks. The vulnerability is critical because it requires no user interaction in order to be exploited. RDP is already an established, popular attack vector which has been used to install ransomware.
Dark net malware becomes more targeted
The dark net has become a haven for custom-built, targeted malware, with threats tailored to specific industries or organizations outnumbering off-the-shelf varieties by two to one, according to a new study.
The research from application containment company Bromium also finds four in 10 dark net vendors are selling targeted hacking services aimed at FTSE 100 and Fortune 500 businesses.
Undetectable HiddenWasp backdoor malware hits Linux users, allowing for full control of infected systems
Using code from the famous Mirai worm and the Azazel rootkit, HiddenWasp is a newly discovered malware strain targeting Linux systems.
HiddenWasp is slightly unusual in having Linux in its sights, and the targeted remote control tool is able to avoid detection by all major antivirus software. The malware is described as "sophisticated" as it comprises a deployment script, a trojan and a rootkit. This an advanced backdoor attack tool that allows for complete remote control of a system.
Kodi alternative Mobdro steals users' Wi-Fi passwords, seeks to access shared media and installed apps
Mobdro is a streaming app that can be installed on any Android device, including phones, tablets, Amazon's Fire TV Stick, and Google's Chromecast. It has been gaining in popularity for a while now, especially after all the negative press surrounding rival service Kodi.
However, Mobdro is now facing controversy of its own after a new malware report made a number of damning claims about it.
Email threats become more focused and malware gets harder to detect
Spam emails containing malware significantly dropped in 2018, to just six percent, down from 26 percent in 2017. But at the same time malware is becoming more sophisticated and harder to detect.
These are among the findings of the latest Global Security Report from Trustwave. The largest single category of malware encountered is downloaders at 13 percent.
Emsisoft Decrypter for Planetary gets your ransomware-riddled files back for free
Emsisoft has released a free decrypter tool for anyone who has been struck by the Planetary Ransomware, eliminating the need to pay a fee to the attackers.
Before using the tool you are advised to ensure that you have removed the malware from your computer -- something you can do with the free version of Emsisoft Anti-Malware. You also need to ensure that you don't delete the ransom note ("!!!READ_IT!!!.txt") or the decrypter won't work.
Almost half of industrial computers hit by malicious cyber activity in 2018
Kaspersky has released the results of an astonishing study that found that almost half of world's Industrial Control System (ICS) computers was subjected to malicious cyber activity last year.
While malware and cyber attacks have been a problem for some time, there is particular concern about the rising numbers of ICS computers being affected. In the case of downtime for such systems, there is the risk of material losses and production downtime at industrial facilities.
Check to see if your computer was targeted by the ASUS ShadowHammer malware
Yesterday we reported about a warning from Kaspersky that the ASUS Live Update Utility had been hacked to deliver ShadowHammer backdoor malware. ASUS has now released a patch to secure systems, and Kaspersky has released a tool that you can use to check whether you have been affected by the malware.
It's important that ASUS users install the patch -- described as a "critical" update by the company -- to secure their systems, but it's also a good idea to use Kaspersky's utility to see whether your computer has been infected with ShadowHammer.
ASUS Live Update Utility hacked to deliver ShadowHammer backdoor malware to a million systems
Kaspersky Lab reports that the software update system used by ASUS was hijacked by hackers and used to deliver a backdoor-laden piece of malware to users. The company estimates that around a million users may have been affected by what it describes as "one of the biggest supply-chain incidents ever".
Back in January, the security firm discovered that a threat actor interfered with the ASUS Live Update Utility, adding a backdoor to it. Signed with an official ASUS certificate and carefully crafted to be precisely the same size as the official tool, the malware -- dubbed ShadowHammer -- went unnoticed for some time.
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