Kaspersky detects at least 360K new malicious files per day in 2020

12/22/2020 12:22:08 AM

Did you know that Kaspersky has detected over 360,000 new malicious files per day in 2020? Yes, it's a 5.2 percent increase compared to 2019.

The global cybersecurity company has said that this was due to the large growth in the number of Trojans (malicious files capable of a range of actions, including deleting data and spying) and backdoors (a specific type of Trojan that gives attackers remote control over the infected device): a 40.5% and 23% increase respectively.

Kasperksy has disclosed that its detection systems discovered an average of 360,000 new malicious files every day over the past 12 months—18,000 more than the previous year (a 5.2% increase) and up from 346,000 in 2018. 60.2% of those malicious files were non-specific Trojans. In general, the percent of Trojans detected increased by 40.5% when compared to the previous year.

In the same press release, they saw an increase in the number of backdoors detected, as well as worms (malicious programs that self-replicate on your system), written in the VisualBasicScript language and usually belonging to the Dinihou malware family. On the decline, however, is adware (programs that bombard you with advertisements), which experienced a 35% decrease when compared to 2019.

The vast majority of malicious files detected (89.80%) occurred via Windows PE files—a file format specific to Windows operating systems. At the same time, the number of new malware related to Android operating systems declined by 13.7%.

Given that many people were working and studying from home, most likely on computers and laptops, attackers appear to have shifted their focus to these devices. There was also a 27% increase in the number of different scripts—sent via malicious email campaigns or encountered on infected websites, which could, once again, reflect the fact that people spent more time on the Internet and attackers attempted to capitalize on that fact.

“Over the past year, our detection systems discovered far more new malicious objects than they did in 2019. Due to the pandemic, users from around the world were forced to spend more time on their devices and online,” said Denis Staforkin, a security expert at Kaspersky.

“It’s hard to know whether or not attackers were more active or our solutions detected more malicious files simply because of greater activity. It could be a combination of both. Either way, we have registered a noticeable increase in the number of new malicious files this year, and this will most likely continue going into 2021 as employees continue to work from home and countries implement different restrictions. However, if users take basic security precautions, they can significantly lower their risk of encountering them,” added Staforkin.

More of the annual threat statistic report can be found on Securelist.com. The website also posted about remote work as the story of the year, as well as the entire Kaspersky Security Bulletin for 2020, and the advance threat predictions for 2021. 

Meanwhile, for users to stay protected even beyond the previous year, Kasperksy is recommending the following:

• Pay close attention to and don’t open any suspicious files or attachments received from unknown sources. Double-check the URL format and company name spelling before you download anything. Fake websites may look just like the real thing, but there will be anomalies to help you spot the difference.
• Do not download and install applications from untrusted sources.
• Do not click on any links received from unknown sources and suspicious online advertisements.
• Create strong and unique passwords, including a mix of lower-case and upper-case letters, numbers, and punctuation, and activate two-factor authentication.
• Always install updates. Some of them may contain critical security issue fixes.
• Ignore messages asking to disable security systems for office software or antivirus software.
• Use a robust security solution appropriate to your system type and devices, such as Kaspersky Internet Security or Kaspersky Security Cloud. It will tell you which sites shouldn’t be open and will protect you from malware.

Author: slickmaster | © 2020, 2021 The SlickMaster's Files