The overall global Internet threat level grew by 6.9 percentage points – in 2013, 41.6% of user computers were attacked at least once. In order to conduct all these attacks over the Internet in 2013, cybercriminals used1 10,604,273 unique hosts, which is 60.5% more than in 2012. The USA and Russia are the leading hosts of malicious web resources - 45% of web attacks neutralized by Kaspersky Lab products were launched from these countries.
2013 also saw a further increase in the security issues around mobiles, with a new level of maturity in terms of the sophistication and number of these threats. Most malicious mobile apps principally aimed to steal money, and subsequently personal data. Android is still the main target, attracting a whopping 98.05% of known malware.
Based on 2013’s figures, 15 countries can be assigned to a high risk group based on their risk level while surfing the Internet. Russia, Austria, Germany, several former Soviet republics and several Asian countries had 41-60% of Kaspersky Lab users reporting attempted web attacks on their computers.
90.52% of all detected attempts to exploit vulnerabilities targeted Oracle Java. These vulnerabilities are exploited in drive-by attacks conducted via the Internet, and new Java exploits are now present in lots of exploit packs.
Seven of the Top 20 malicious programs on the Internet were threats that are blocked during attempted drive-by attacks. This is currently the most common attack method for web-based malware. The verdicts in Kaspersky Lab’s ranking are assigned to scripts that redirect to exploits as well as to the exploits themselves.
“There is unlikely to be any slow-down in development of malicious apps, especially for Android. To date, the majority of malware has been designed to get access to the device. In the future, there is also a high probability that the first mass worm for Android will appear. Android ticks all the boxes for cybercriminals – it’s a widely-used OS that is easy to use for both app developers and malware authors alike”, Christian Funk, Senior Virus Analyst, Kaspersky Lab, commented.
Obad, probably the most remarkable discovery in the mobile field in 2013, is being distributed by multiple methods, including pre-established mobile botnets. This malware is probably the most versatile piece of mobile malware found to date, including a staggering total of three exploits, a backdoor, SMS Trojan and bot capabilities and further functionalities. It’s a kind of Swiss Army knife, comprising a whole range of different tools.
Kaspersky Lab products detected almost 3 billion malware attacks on user computers. A total of 1.8 million malicious and potentially unwanted programs were detected in these attacks.
The full report is available on securelist.com
1The statistics are based on data obtained and processed using Kaspersky Security Network (KSN). KSN integrates cloud-based technologies into personal and corporate products, and is one of Kaspersky Lab’s most important innovations.
2The following rating of vulnerable applications is based on data about exploits blocked by our products and used by cybercriminals both in Internet attacks and in compromising local applications, including users’ mobile devices.
We use cookies to make your experience of our websites better. By using and further navigating this website you accept this. Detailed information about the use of cookies on this website is available by clicking on more information.