TRENDING
treatments , cures and remote work topics to lure targets into clicking on a malicious link , downloading a file , or viewing a PDF .
To track these campaigns , McAfee Advanced Programs Group ( APG ) has published a COVID-19 Threat Dashboard , which includes top threats leveraging the pandemic , most targeted verticals and countries and most utilised threat types and volume over time . The dashboard is updated daily at 4pmET .
“ Cybersecurity cannot be solved by cookie cutter approaches . Each organisation is unique and has specific intelligence requirements and objectives ,” said Patrick Flynn , Head of McAfee APG . “ The McAfee COVID-19 Threat Dashboard utilises data to create true analysed intelligence , which allows users to understand the total threat environment , informing them of potential threats before they are weaponised .”
Raj Samani , McAfee Fellow and Chief Scientist
Data breaches : The new ransomware attack
Over the course of the first quarter of 2020 , McAfee Advanced Threat Research ( ATR ) observed malicious actors focus on sectors where availability and integrity are fundamental , for example manufacturing , law and construction firms .
“ No longer can we call these attacks just ransomware incidents . When actors have access to the network and steal the data prior to encrypting it , threatening to leak if you don ’ t pay , that is a data breach ,” said Christiaan Beek , Senior Principal Engineer and Lead Scientist .
“ Using either weakly protected Remote Desktop Protocol or stolen credentials from the underground , we have observed malicious actors moving at light speed to learn the network of their victims and effectively steal and then encrypt their data .”
New ransomware declined 12 % in Q1 ; total ransomware increased 32 % over the past four quarters .
Q1 2020 threat activity
• Malware overall . New malware samples slowed by 35 %; total malware increased 27 % over the past four quarters . New Mac OS malware samples increased by 51 %.
• Mobile malware . New mobile malware increased by 71 %, with total malware growing nearly 12 % over the past four quarters .
• Regional Targets . Disclosed incidents targeting the Americas increased
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CYBERSECURITY CANNOT BE SOLVED BY COOKIE CUTTER APPROACHES . EACH ORGANISATION IS UNIQUE AND HAS SPECIFIC INTELLIGENCE REQUIREMENTS AND OBJECTIVES .
60 %, incidents targeting Asia-Pacific increased 27 %, while Europe decreased 7 %.
• Security incidents . McAfee Labs counted 458 publicly disclosed security incidents , an increase of 41 % from Q4 . A total of 50 % of all publicly disclosed security incidents took place in North America , followed by 9 % in Europe . Nearly 47 % of all publicly disclosed security incidents took place in the US .
• Vertical industry targets . Disclosed incidents targeting the public sector increased 73 %, individuals increased 59 %, education increased 33 % and manufacturing increased 44 %.
• Attack vectors . Overall , malware-led disclosed attack vectors , followed by account hijacking and targeted attacks .
• Cryptomining . New coinmining malware increased 26 %. Total coinmining malware samples increased nearly 97 % over the past four quarters .
• Fileless malware . New JavaScript malware declined nearly 38 %, while total malware grew nearly 24 % over the past four quarters . New PowerShell malware increased 689 %; total malware grew 1,902 % over the past four quarters .
• IoT . New malware samples increased nearly 58 %; total IoT malware grew 82 % over the past four quarters .
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