Evasive Malware Threats on the Rise Despite Decline in Overall Attacks September 24, 2020 https://www.infosecurity-magazine.com/news/evasive-malware-rise-decline/ WatchGuard's Internet Security Report - Q2 2020 WatchGuard: WatchGuard’s Threat Lab Analyzes the Latest Malware and Internet Attacks WatchGuard Research Finds 12% Spike in Evasive Threats Despite Decrease in Overall Malware Volume
I'm now absolutely convinced that as a private, average user not running a big business the chances of being attacked or infected are close to zero. For years I ran Avira Pro, lately Kaspersky I.S and now I've been with MS Defender for a few months, and there has never been one single detection, nothing, zilch. Not even one single FP for that matter, which is indicative how good the above mentioned AVs are in their scrutiny. I think there's been a change in the activities of hackers, many years ago infections were often destructive and spyware was rife in the hands of unscrupulous marketers, nowadays malware is actively directed to big business and to institutions which can afford large payments in untraceable bitcoin transactions. I spent quite a bit of money in security, specially from 2005 to 2013. In the future on a new machine, I will only buy a good backup/imaging program, that's it.
True But back in Windows 98 the very second the internet connected that channel was loaded with malware and viruses that literally got inside a 98 PC in an instant. That is provided no AV was in the way. But even with those in limited supply and tauted to be effective were no match for junk consistently seeping into Internet Explorer. Thus the rush of third party security apps that better addressed the risks than even AV's of that age.
Layered security becomes critical as malware attacks rise September 25, 2020 https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2020/09/25/malware-detections-q2-2020/
Amazing how hackers discover stuff like this. I never realized that there was a default password for Excel documents.
You would have thought that after all these years they would have done something about changing it! A write up (and video) here from 2013 https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2013/04/11/password-excel-velvet-sweatshop/
It depends a bit on your computing practices, but yes as a home user it should be quite easy to stay safe. I also think that most active users on this forum are using security tools more as a hobby, I don't think they are THAT worried about malware. But anyway, here is another article about threats that Cisco encounters the most on business PC's, file-less malware remains a big threat. https://blogs.cisco.com/security/threat-landscape-trends-endpoint-security
Except those who are click-happy in phishing emails, tricked into installing a "Flash plugin" to watch a video, or addicted to torrent downloads. Agreed.
Yes exactly, you will always have people that will be fooled by this. But even then, you would think that most AV's should be able to protect them? But because lots of people will now work from home, I do expect that they will be targeted way more. Because the problem is that home-PC's might now be an entry point to business networks.
I would think many, if not most, people working from home would be using a COE-assigned device to work from, running an enterprise level antivirus and other security measures more robust than those found on typical home devices. Yes, I agree a good consumer AV should likely detect the majority of threats triggered by click-happy souls
Stegomalware Surge – Attackers Using File, Video, Image & Others To Hide Malware August 8, 2022 Cyble: Stegomalware – Identifying Possible Attack Vectors
RAT malware campaign tries to evade detection using polyglot files By Bill Toulas @billtoulas - January 12, 2023 Deep Instinct: Malicious JARs and Polyglot files: “Who do you think you JAR?”
Hackers use Golang source code interpreter to evade detection By Bill Toulas @billtoulas - January 24, 2023 SentinelLabs: DragonSpark | Attacks Evade Detection with SparkRAT and Golang Source Code Interpretation
