McAfee Labs Reports Record Surges in Health Care Attacks, Fileless Malware, Cryptocurrency Mining
McAfee Catalogs 478 New Cyber Threats Every Minute, 8 Every Second; Cybercriminals Embrace Novel Techniques and Schemes to Capture New Revenue Streams
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
· Health care experiences 211% increase in disclosed security incidents in 2017
· Fileless malware leveraging Microsoft PowerShell grows 267% in Q4 2017
· Cybercriminals follow the money into cryptocurrency mining
· New ransomware grows 35%; ends 2017 with 59% growth year over year
· New mobile malware decreases by 35%; infection rates are highest in South America
· New Mac OS malware samples increase by 24% in Q4; total Mac OS malware grows 243% in 2017
SINGAPORE, March 12, 2018 – McAfee, the device-to-cloud cybersecurity company, today released its McAfee Labs Threats Report: March 2018, examining the growth and trends of new malware, ransomware, and other threats in Q4 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 liberalized information-sharing to improve attack defenses remain critically important as defenders work to combat escalating asymmetrical cyberwarfare.”
Each quarter, McAfee Labs assesses the state of the cyber threat landscape based on 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, Tactics
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.
Health Care Targeted
Although publicly disclosed security incidents targeting health care 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 organizational failure to comply with security best practices or address known vulnerabilities in medical software.
McAfee Advanced Threat Research analysts looked into possible attack vectors related to health care data, finding exposed sensitive images and vulnerable software. Combining these attack vectors, analysts were able to reconstruct patient body parts, and print three-dimensional models.
“Health care is a valuable target for cybercriminals who have set aside ethics in favor of profits,” said Christiaan Beek, McAfee Lead Scientist and Senior Principal Engineer. “Our research uncovered classic software failures and security issues such as hardcoded embedded passwords, remote code execution, unsigned firmware, and more. Both health care organizations and developers creating software for their use must be more vigilant in ensuring they are up to date on security best practices.”
Q4 2017 Threats Activity
Fileless malware. In Q4 JavaScript malware growth continued to slow with new samples decreasing by 9%, while new PowerShell malware more than tripled, growing 267%.
Security incidents. McAfee Labs counted 222 publicly disclosed security incidents in Q4, a decrease of 15% from Q3. 30% of all publicly disclosed security incidents in Q4 took place in the Americas, followed by 14% in Europe and 11% in Asia.
Vertical industry targets. Public, health care, education, and finance, respectively, led vertical sector security incidents for 2017.
- Health care. Disclosed incidents experienced a surge in 2017, rising 210%, while falling 78% in Q4.
- Public sector. Disclosed incidents decreased 15% in 2017, down 37% in Q4.
- Education. Disclosed incidents rose 125% in 2017, remaining stagnant in Q4.
- Finance. Disclosed incidents rose 16% in 2017, falling 29% in Q4.
Regional Targets.
- Americas. Disclosed incidents rose 46% in 2017, falling 46% in Q4.
- Asia. Disclosed incidents fell 58% in 2017, rising 28% in Q4.
- Europe. Disclosed incidents fell 20% in 2017, rising 18% in Q4.
- Oceana. Disclosed incidents rose 42% in 2017, falling 33% in Q4.
Attack vectors. In Q4 and 2017 overall, malware led disclosed attack vectors, followed by account hijacking, leaks, distributed denial of service, and code injection.
Ransomware. The fourth quarter saw notable industry and law enforcement successes against criminals responsible forransomware campaigns. New ransomware samples grew 59% over the last four quarters, while new ransomware samples growth rose 35% in Q4. The total number of ransomware samples increased 16% in the last quarter to 14.8 million samples.
Mobile malware. New mobile malware decreased by 35% from Q3. In 2017 total mobile malware experienced a 55% increase, while new samples declined by 3%.
Malware overall. New malware samples increased in Q4 by 32%. The total number of malware samples grew 10% in the past four quarters.
Mac malware. New Mac OS malware samples increased by 24% in Q4. Total Mac OS malware grew 243% in 2017.
Macro malware. New macro malware increased by 53% in Q4, declined by 35% in 2017.
Spam campaigns. 97% of spam botnet traffic in Q4 was driven by Necurs—recent purveyor of “lonely girl” spam, pump-and-dump stock spam, and Lockey ransomware downloaders—and by Gamut—sender of job offer–themed phishing and money mule recruitment emails.
For more information on these threat trends and statistics, please visit:
- McAfee Labs Threats Report: March 2018
- Hacking Medical Data Can Lead to Printing a Stranger’s Body Parts in 3D
- Necurs Botnet Leads the World in Sending Spam Traffic
- The Dark Side of the Cryptocurrency Craze: McAfee Researchers Analyze Its Influence in Cybercrime
- Understanding How Bitcoin Mining Poses Security Risks
About McAfee Labs
McAfee Labs and McAfee Advanced Threat Research are one of the world’s leading sources for threat research, threat intelligence, and cybersecurity thought leadership. With data from hundreds of millions of sensors across key threats vectors—file, web, and network—McAfee Advanced Threat Research delivers real-time threat intelligence, critical analysis, and expert thinking to improve protection and reduce risks. McAfee Labs develops core threat detection technologies that are incorporated into the broadest security product portfolio in the industry.
About McAfee
McAfee is the device-to-cloud cybersecurity company. Inspired by the power
of working together, McAfee creates business and consumer solutions that make our world a safer place. www.mcafee.com
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