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McAfee labs reports record
surges in cyberattacks
A new report from McAfee
Labs records 478 new
cyberthreats every minute
and eight every second. It
shows how cybercriminals
embrace novel techniques
and schemes to capture
new revenue streams.
M
cAfee, the device-to-cloud
cybersecurity company, has
released its McAfee Labs Threats
Report: March 2018, examining the growth
and trends of new malware, ransomware,
and other threats in the fourth quarter
(Q4) of 2017.
McAfee Labs saw on average eight
new threat samples per second and
the increasing use of fileless malware
attacks leveraging Microsoft PowerShell.
The Q4 spike in Bitcoin value prompted
cybercriminals to focus on cryptocurrency
hijacking through a variety of methods,
including malicious Android apps.
“The fourth quarter was defined by rapid
cybercriminal adoption of newer tools and
schemes: fileless malware, cryptocurrency
mining and steganography. Even tried-
and-true tactics, such as ransomware
campaigns, were leveraged beyond their
usual means to create smoke and mirrors
to distract defenders from actual attacks,”
said Raj Samani, McAfee Fellow and Chief
Scientist. “Collaboration and liberalised
information-sharing to ensure attack
defences remain critically important as
defenders work to combat escalating
asymmetrical cyberwarfare.”
Each quarter, McAfee Labs assesses the
state of the cyberthreat landscape based on
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INTELLIGENTCIO
threat data gathered by the McAfee Global
Threat Intelligence cloud from hundreds of
millions of sensors across multiple threat
vectors around the world. McAfee Advanced
Threat Research complements McAfee Labs
by providing in-depth investigative analysis
of cyberattacks from around the globe.
Cybercriminals take on new strategies
The fourth quarter of 2017 saw the rise
of newly diversified cybercriminals, as a
significant number of actors embraced
novel criminal activities to capture new
revenue streams. For instance, the spike
in the value of Bitcoin prompted actors
to branch out from moneymakers such as
ransomware, to the practice of hijacking
Bitcoin and Monero wallets.
McAfee researchers discovered Android
apps developed exclusively for the purpose
of cryptocurrency mining and observed
discussions in underground forums
suggesting Litecoin as a safer model than
Bitcoin, with less chance of exposure.
Cybercriminals also continued to adopt
fileless malware leveraging Microsoft
PowerShell, which surged 432% over the
course of 2017, as the threat category
became a go-to toolbox. The scripting
language was used within Microsoft Office
files to execute the first stage of attacks.
Healthcare targeted
Although publicly disclosed security
incidents targeting healthcare decreased
by 78% in the fourth quarter of 2017,
the sector experienced a dramatic 210%
overall increase in incidents in 2017.
Through their investigations, McAfee
Advanced Threat Research analysts
conclude many incidents were caused
by organisational failure to comply with
security best practices or address known
vulnerabilities in medical software. n
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