Online banking, mobile hardest hit by cyber criminals

 ·12 Feb 2014
Cyber Crime Security

Online banking and mobile operating systems were the hardest hit by malware in 2013, according to a new security threat report by security software firm, Trend Micro.

The report found that online banking malware directly targeting victims’ finances intensified globally in 2013, while prolific ransomware increased and evolved throughout the year.

“Online banking malware took center stage in terms of volume increase. Our number of online banking malware detections reached almost one million by the end of 2013,” Trend Micro said.

Online banking malware was detected in countries that had not been previously targetted, according to the report, increasing not only in number, but spread across the globe.

Japan the United States remained most affected by online banking malware throughout the year, with Brazil and Taiwan following. A spike in increased online banking activity in Brazil and Japan were cited as a possible explanation for the rise in malicious activity.

“Malware refinements and the surge in the online banking malware volume led to a grave consequence for victims — actual monetary loss,” Trend Micro said.

Online banking malware

Online banking malware

Mobile malware

According to the report, there was a sizable increase in both volume and sophistication of mobile threats in 2013.

As the most dominant operating system in the market, Android also holds the top spot for drawing the most malicious applications.

Almost 1.4 million Android apps were found to be malicious by the end of 2013 – 1 million found in 2013 alone.

“Cyber-criminals will continue to exploit the OS’s dominance, as we predict the malicious and high-risk app volume to reach 3 million by the end of [2014],” Trend Micro said.

The group found that, while 90% of malicious and high-risk apps were hosted on dodgy domains, about 27% of the total were also found on legitimate app stores.

“We were, for instance, able to download some malicious apps from Google Play that pushed ads that led to fraudulent sites.”

Apple’s App Store wasn’t spared either, Trend Micros said, noting that attackers could still effectively hide malicious behaviour that would typically lead to app rejection by the Store.

According to the report, 2013 saw an increase in phishing attacks specifically targeting Apple users as criminals recognise the potential revenue from its install base.

Malicious mobile apps

Malicious mobile apps

Personal Privacy

Through social networking and “personal cloud” accounts, personal privacy became a recurring issue.

Aggressive phishing attacks riding on the release of popular products such as PS4 and Xbox One emerged to compromise personal information.

Infrastructure Attacks

High-profile incidents of infrastructure being targeted by cyber-attacks became a reality in South Korea, demonstrating how critical operations can be impacted on a broad scale.

Unsupported Software

2013 saw increased awareness regarding unsupported versions of Java and Windows XP, which will present widespread security challenges as patches and upgrades cease when support for XP ends April 2014.

More on security

South Africa out of favour in 2014

South Africa’s IT landscape

South African start-up jobs soar

Show comments
Subscribe to our daily newsletter