Ransomware Takes Off, Web Browsers Under Attack: Kaspersky Report

Kaspersky Lab’s latest IT Threat Evolution report once again highlights the risks of ransomware, as such attacks more than doubled in 3Q16.

While attackers still target Adobe Flash and Android often, the top target in the third quarter was web browsers, at 44.8 percent.

There are a number of different ways to classify and track malware, including measuring the volume of malicious packages that attempt to install on devices. In the third quarter, Kaspersky Lab reported that it detected 1.5 million malicious installation packages, a decline from 3.6 million reported in the second quarter of 2016.

Not surprisingly, attackers are going after money, specifically taking increasing aim at financial applications. Financial malware—that is, malware that aims to steal money from online banking applications—was blocked on 1.2 million computers monitored by Kaspersky Lab in the third quarter of 2016.

While there are multiple forms of banking malware, Kaspersky Lab found that the Trojan-Spy.Win32.Zbot malware was the most prominent one in the third quarter.

Kaspersky Lab reported that 821,865 Kaspersky users were attacked by some form of ransomware in the third quarter—2.6 times more than the previous quarter.

While ransomware is a global problem, Japan topped Kaspersky’s list as the geography attacked the most in the third quarter.

The Locker ransomware family was responsible for 28 percent of attacks on Kaspersky users in the third quarter. Locky was a distant second place, infecting 9.6 percent of users.