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Istrinternet Security Threat Report Volume ISTRInternet Security Threat Report Volume 23 01 Introduction Page 2 ISTR April 2017 THE DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, ARE DISCLAIMED, EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT THAT SUCH DISCLAIMERS ARE HELD TO BE LEGALLY INVALID. SYMANTEC CORPORATION SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES IN CONNECTION WITH THE FURNISHING, PERFORMANCE, OR USE OF THIS DOCUMENT. THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS DOCUMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM THIRD PARTY SOURCES IS BELIEVED TO BE RELIABLE, BUT IS IN NO WAY GUARANTEED. SECURITY PRODUCTS, TECHNICAL SERVICES, AND ANY OTHER TECHNICAL DATA REFERENCED IN THIS DOCUMENT (“CONTROLLED ITEMS”) ARE SUBJECT TO U.S. EXPORT CONTROL AND SANCTIONS LAWS, REGULATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS, AND MAY BE SUBJECT TO EXPORT OR IMPORT REGULATIONS IN OTHER COUNTRIES. YOU AGREE TO COMPLY STRICTLY WITH THESE LAWS, REGULATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS, AND ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE THE RESPONSIBILITY TO OBTAIN ANY LICENSES, PERMITS OR OTHER APPROVALS THAT MAY BE REQUIRED IN ORDER FOR YOU TO EXPORT, RE-EXPORT, TRANSFER IN COUNTRY OR IMPORT SUCH CONTROLLED ITEMS. Back to Table of Contents 01 Introduction 03 Facts and Figures Executive Summary Malware Big Numbers Web Threats Methodology Email Vulnerabilities Targeted Attacks 02 Year in Review Mobile Threats The Cyber Crime Threat Landscape Internet of Things Targeted Attacks by Numbers Fraud and the Underground Economy Ransomware: More than Just Cyber Crime Infecting the Software Supply Chain 04 Predictions The Mobile Threat Landscape TABLE OF CONTENTS Intro Section 01 01 Introduction Page 5 ISTR March 2018 Executive Summary From the sudden spread of WannaCry and Spike in software Petya/NotPetya, to the swift growth in supply chain attacks coinminers, 2017 provided us with another Despite the EternalBlue exploit wreaking havoc in 2017, reminder that digital security threats can come the reality is that vulnerabilities are becoming increasingly from new and unexpected sources. With each difficult for attackers to identify and exploit. In response passing year, not only has the sheer volume of to this, Symantec is now seeing an increase in attackers threats increased, but the threat landscape injecting malware implants into the supply chain to has become more diverse, with attackers infiltrate unsuspecting organizations, with a 200 percent working harder to discover new avenues of increase in these attacks—one every month of 2017 as attack and cover their tracks while doing so. compared to four attacks annually in years prior. Hijacking software updates provides attackers with an Coin-mining attacks explode entry point for compromising well-protected targets, or to target a specific region or sector. The Petya/NotPetya Cyber criminals who have been firmly focused on (Ransom.Petya) outbreak was the most notable example: ransomware for revenue generation are now starting to after using Ukrainian accounting software as the point explore other opportunities. During the past year, the of entry, Petya/NotPetya used a variety of methods to astronomical rise in cryptocurrency values inspired many spread across corporate networks to deploy the attackers’ cyber criminals to shift to coin mining as an alternative malicious payload. revenue source. This coin mining gold rush resulted in an 8,500 percent increase in detections of coinminers on Ransomware business endpoint computers in 2017. experiences market correction With a low barrier of entry—only requiring a couple lines of code to operate—cyber criminals are using coinminers When viewed as a business, it’s clear that ransomware to steal computer processing power and cloud CPU usage profitability in 2016 led to a crowded market with from consumers and enterprises to mine cryptocurrency. overpriced ransom demands. In 2017, the ransomware While the immediate impact of coin mining is typically “market” made a correction with fewer ransomware performance related—slowing down devices, overheating families and lower ransom demands—signaling that batteries and in some cases, rendering devices ransomware has become a commodity. Many cyber unusable—there are broader implications, particularly for criminals may have shifted their focus to coin mining as organizations. Corporate networks are at risk of shutdown an alternative to cash in while cryptocurrency values are from coinminers aggressively propagated across their high. Some online banking threats have also experienced environment. There may also be financial implications for a renaissance as established ransomware groups have organizations who find themselves billed for cloud CPU attempted to diversify. usage by coinminers. Last year, the average ransom demand dropped to $522, As malicious coin mining evolves, IoT devices will continue less than half the average of the year prior. And while the to be ripe targets for exploitation. Symantec™ already number of ransomware variants increased by 46 percent, found a 600 percent increase in overall IoT attacks in indicating the established criminal groups are still quite 2017, which means that cyber criminals could exploit the productive, the number of ransomware families dropped, connected nature of these devices to mine en masse. suggesting they are innovating less and may have shifted their focus to new, higher value targets. Back to Table of Contents 01 Introduction Page 6 ISTR March 2018 Drop in zero days can’t halt the rise in targeted attacks Symantec has found that overall targeted attack activity is up by 10 percent in 2017, motivated primarily (90 percent) by intelligence gathering. However, a not-so-insignificant 10 percent of attack groups engage in some form of disruptive activity. The “Living off the Land” trend continues with attack groups opting for tried-and-trusted means to infiltrate target organizations. Spear phishing is the number one infection vector employed by 71 percent of organized groups in 2017. The use of zero days continues to fall out of favor. In fact, only 27 percent of the 140 targeted attack groups that Symantec tracks have been known to use zero-day vulnerabilities at any point in the past. Mobile malware continues to surge Threats in the mobile space continue to grow year- over-year. The number of new mobile malware variants increased by 54 percent in 2017, as compared to 2016. And last year, there were an average of 24,000 malicious mobile applications blocked each day. While threats are on the increase, the problem is exacerbated by the continued use of older operating systems. In particular, on Android™, only 20 percent of devices are running the newest major version and only 2.3 percent are on the latest minor release. Mobile users also face privacy risks from grayware, apps that aren’t completely malicious but can be troublesome. Symantec found that 63 percent of grayware apps leak the device’s phone number. With grayware increasing by 20 percent in 2017, this isn’t a problem that’s going away. Back to Table of Contents Big Numbers Web Threats More than 1 Billion Web requests analyzed each day Up 5% from 2016 1 in 13 Web requests lead to malware Up 3% from 2016 Malware 92% Increase in new downloader variants % % 8,500 80 Increase in Increase coinminer in new detections malware on Macs Email 2017 Percentage 2015 2016 % spam rate 53% 53% 55 Ransomware 5.4B WannaCry attacks blocked 46% Increase in new ransomware variants IoT 2017 600% Increase in attacks against IoT devices 2016 Attack Origin Russian Federation 6% Japan United States 4% 11% India 5% China Brazil 21% 7% Mobile Number of Increase in mobile new variants malware variants 2016 54% 17K 2017 27K Average number of malicious 24,000 mobile apps blocked each day % App categories that 27 Lifestyle have the most malicious % mobile apps are: 20 Music & Audio % Leaky apps – what 63 Phone Number sensitive information do % they most often leak? 3 7 Device Location Vulnerabilities 13% Overall increase in reported vulnerabilities 29% Increase in industrial control system (ICS) related vulnerabilities 01 Introduction Page 12 ISTR March 2018 Methodology Symantec has established the largest civilian threat collection gence gained through our partnership with more than 15,000 of network in the world, and one of the most comprehensive the largest global enterprises. collections of cyber security threat intelligence through the ID Analytics™, and ID:A Labs (our dedicated identity research Symantec™ Global Intelligence Network. The Symantec Global group), provides comprehensive insights into credit and fraud Intelligence Network comprises more than 126.5 million attack risks, and is powered by the ID Network™. The ID Network is a sensors, recording thousands of threat events every second, unique cross-industry repository of up-to-the-minute consumer and contains over five petabytes of security threat data. This information providing a unique perspective on identity and network also monitors the threat activities for over 175 million fraud-related risks. The ID Network also receives outcome endpoints located in 157 countries and territories through a behavior data from third-party enterprises that confirm when combination of Symantec products, technologies, and services, an applicant has been identified as fraudulent within their including Symantec Endpoint Protection™ software, the portfolio. This continuously updated database of cross-industry Symantec DeepSight™
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