The Bitdefender Mid-Year Report shows: The current pandemic has changed the threat landscape. Four out of ten Covid-related emails were spam.
The threat landscape has always been influenced by events and changes in society; however, the global coronavirus pandemic has made a significant change in the way cybercriminals operate and hone their skills. The defining feature of the first half of 2020 was the extensive reference to the pandemic. Cyber criminals have taken advantage of the population's fear and need for information - the rise in fraud, phishing and malware across all platforms and attack vectors has been a direct result.
In the first two weeks of March alone, the number of corona malware reports increased fivefold. In May and June, an average of 60 percent of all email received were fraudulent, according to Bitdefender Telemetry. Whether it was a phishing scam, an appeal for donations or an offer that could not be resisted: Cyber criminals have pulled everything out of their bag of tricks to deceive the coronavirus victims.
Windows threats are increasing
Heatmaps show the evolution of malware related to Corona (Quelle_Bitdefender).
Windows threats such as ransomware, fileless malware, cryptocurrency miners, Trojan bankers and exploits are still on the rise, with several groups of malware emerging as very popular and constantly updated. For example, Emotet, Agent Testla, TrickBot and Dridex have become the most popular threats used by actors during the pandemic.
The most important results of the mid-year reports:
- Seven-fold increase in ransomware reports compared to the previous year
- 4 out of 10 Covid-related emails were spam
- 46 percent increase in suspicious IoT reports
- 55,7 percent of threats to the IoT network involve port scanning attacks
- GoLang is becoming a popular programming language for IoT malware
- Android threats are taking advantage of the pandemic
- Attackers focus more on social engineering and less on the sophistication of malware
- Coronavirus threats are becoming the new norm
More on this in the Mid-Year Landscape Report as PDF at Bitdefender.com
About Bitdefender Bitdefender is a leading global provider of cybersecurity solutions and antivirus software, protecting over 500 million systems in more than 150 countries. Since it was founded in 2001, the company's innovations have consistently ensured excellent security products and intelligent protection for devices, networks and cloud services for private customers and companies. As the supplier of choice, Bitdefender technology is found in 38 percent of security solutions deployed around the world and is trusted and recognized by industry experts, manufacturers and customers alike. www.bitdefender.de