Search Results: ransomware

Bankers and encryptors, ransomware and spyware, old and new exploits; APT attacks, ATM infection, spear phishing and fraud targeting large numbers of users – cybercriminals continue their hunt for money and information

We recently found that a new logic in the latest version of the Shade encryptor currently being spread widely within the territories of Russia and CIS. On the basis of this logic, the ransomware checks the computer for any involvement in accounting activities and, if the check is successful, installs remote control tools into the compromised system instead of encrypting the victim’s files.

In Q2 2016, the geography of DDoS attacks narrowed to 70 countries, with China accounting for 77.4% of attacks. In fact, 97.3% of the targeted resources were located in just 10 countries. The longest DDoS attack in the second quarter of 2016 lasted for 291 hours, which significantly exceeded the Q1 maximum of 197 hours.

This year we had the first BSides Latin America conference, which joined the efforts of many other BSides organizers around the region.

In the first quarter of 2016 the percentage of spam in email traffic increased by 2.7 percentage points compared with the previous quarter. But it is too early to speak about a growth trend. The US remained the biggest source of spam in Q1 2016. The Top 5 also included Vietnam, India, Brazil and China – all large, fast developing countries with high levels of internet connection.

2016 has only just got underway, but the first three months have already seen the same amount of cybersecurity events that just a few years ago would have seemed normal for a whole year. The main underlying trends remained the same, while there was significant growth in trends related to traditional cybercrime, especially mobile threats and global ransomware epidemics.

Petya Trojan is an unusual hybrid of an MBR blocker and data encryptor: it prevents not only the operating system from booting but also blocks normal access to files located on the hard drives of the attacked system.

In February 2016, the Internet was shaken by an epidemic caused by the new ransomware Trojan Locky. The Trojan has been actively propagating up to the present day. Kaspersky Lab products have reported attempts to infect users with the Trojan in 114 countries around the world. Analysis of the samples has shown that this Trojan is a brand new ransomware threat, written from scratch.

Cybercrime in Brazil has changed drastically in the last few years, as it shifted from simple keyloggers to tailored remote administration tools that can run a complete attack by using the victim machine. As we know, they are in touch with cybercriminals from Eastern Europe, mainly Russians.

The year 2016 started with a quite a number of security incidents related to hacks of hospitals and medical equipment. They include a ransomware attack on a Los Angeles hospital, the same in two German hospitals, an attack on a Melbourne hospital and so on – in just two months of 2016!

Steam experiences steady growth in the number of active users registered on the platform. Security research has tragically ignored gaming malware in the mistaken assumption that nothing of any real value is traded there. This blind spot is being abused by cybercriminals to steal money and affect real damage.

Our first research into PlugX was published in 2012 – since then this remote access tool (RAT) has become a well-known instrument used in a series of attacks all over the globe targeting multiple industry verticals.

We have seen many shapes and colors of cryptolockers, but the new CTB-Locker variant says it all. A new variant of the CTB-Locker targets web servers only, and to our knowledge it has already successfully encrypted web-root files in more than 70 servers.

On November 2015, Kaspersky Lab researchers identified ATMZombie, a banking Trojan that is considered to be the first malware to ever steal money from Israeli banks. The incident Israeli banks experienced had a very fascinating and innovative method of stealing the money.

As the functionality of mobile devices and mobile services grows, the appetite of cybercriminals who profit from mobile malware will grow too. Malware authors will continue to improve their creations, develop new technologies and look for new ways of spreading mobile malware. Their main aim is to make money.