Malwarebytes Labs releases 2020 State of Malware Report

guest · Feb 11, 2020

Malwarebytes Labs releases 2020 State of Malware Report
February 11, 2020
https://blog.malwarebytes.com/repor...s-labs-releases-2020-state-of-malware-report/

Today is Safer Internet Day—and what better way to celebrate/pay homage than to immerse yourself in research on the latest in malware, exploits, PUPs, web threats, and data privacy? It so happens we’ve got just the right content to kick-start the party because today we released the results of our annual study on the state of malware—the 2020 State of Malware Report—and as usual, it’s a doozy.

From an increase in enterprise-focused threats to the diversification of sophisticated hacking and stealth techniques, the 2019 threat landscape was shaped by a cybercrime industry that aimed to show it’s all grown up and coming after organizations with increasing vengeance.
Our analysis includes a look at threats to Mac and Windows PCs, Android and iOS, as well as browser-based attacks
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Here’s a sample of what we found:

Mac threats increased exponentially in comparison to those against Windows PCs. While overall volume of Mac threats increased year-over-year by more than 400 percent, that number is somewhat impacted by a larger Malwarebytes for Mac userbase in 2019. However, when calculated in threats per endpoint, Macs still outpaced Windows by nearly 2:1.

The volume of global threats against business endpoints has increased by 13 percent year-over-year, with aggressive adware, Trojans, and HackTools leading the pack.

Organizations were once again hammered with Emotet and TrickBot, two Trojan-turned-botnets that surfaced in the top five threats for nearly every region of the globe, and in the top detections for the services, retail, and education industries. TrickBot detections in particular increased more than 50 percent over the previous year.

Net new ransomware activity is at an all-time high against businesses, with families such as Ryuk and Sodinokibi increasing by as much as 543 and 820 percent, respectively.

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Malwarebytes: 2020 State of Malware Report (PDF - 5.19 MB): https://resources.malwarebytes.com/files/2020/02/2020_State-of-Malware-Report.pdf

guest · Feb 11, 2020

Mac malware outpaced Windows PCs threats for first time in 2019, report says
February 11, 2020
https://appleinsider.com/articles/2...cs-threats-for-first-time-in-2019-report-says

In its annual State of Malware Report (PDF link), antivirus software maker Malwarebytes tracked a more than 400% increase in detected Mac malware on a year-over-year basis.

Tallying up threat detections on a per endpoint basis, calculus applied to account for growth in the number of Macs running Malwarebytes software, the firm found 11 threats per Mac endpoint in 2019, up from 4.8 in 2018. By comparison, results show an average of 5.8 threats detected per Windows endpoint over the same period.
"Macs differ drastically from Windows in terms of the types of threats seen [...] most Mac threats, and certainly the most prevalent ones of 2019, are families of adware and potentially unwanted programs (PUPs)."

Indeed, the most prevalent Mac threat, NewTab, is a particularly insidious family of adware that was detected nearly 30 million times in 2019. PCVARK, a PUP that took third place on cross-platform detections, ranked second in the Mac category with almost as many detections as NewTab during the same period.
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As noted in the report, all but one malware incident in 2019 involved duping users into downloading and opening offending software. The lone vulnerability that impacted Mac, according to Malwarebytes, was a Firefox zeroday targeting cryptocurrency companies.
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guest · Feb 14, 2020

The hyped-up Mac malware story doesn’t show what it claims (yet)
February 14, 2020
https://www.applemust.com/the-hyped-up-mac-malware-story-doesnt-show-what-it-claims-yet/

There’s been some misunderstanding following a recent Malwarebytes report, claiming to have identified twice as many attempts against Macs than Windows PCs in 2019 — the fact people are trying to climb the Apple security wall doesn’t mean they clambered over the top.
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Another brick in the wall
That Macs are now more attractive to hackers, malware makers, adware creators and others doesn’t reflect the security weakness of the platform, but its growing value as an attack target.

In other words, the fact Apple’s platforms are becoming bigger targets than ever before means that Macs are being used more widely by the kind of people criminals want to target.
Numbers don’t tell the whole story
The thing is the numbers don’t tell the whole story. It is also interesting that so much of the focus on Mac security in response to the report actually skips what really should be more widely known claim:

"That there has been a huge rise in the incidences of pre-installed malware and adware on Android devices."
In other words, you don’t even need to subvert Android security when they ship with built in adware.
I see that as a terrible indictment of security on that platform, and the blasé way in which its apologists shrug it off is sick to see.
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The report claims adware remains dominant, but ransomware attacks have grown more sophisticated and continue to target and subvert consumers and enterprises on that platform.

In other words, news that attacks against Macs have doubled is important, but what really matters is the number of Macs infected by malware, ransomware or other successful attacks.
And that number is small.

“Of all the threats seen this year, only one incident involved anything other than tricking the user into downloading and opening something they shouldn’t,” the report warns.
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The real truth about Mac security (or the security of any platform that doesn’t happen to ship with malware pre-installed at the factory) is that the most insecure part of any Mac is not actually the Mac, but the user.

You are the weakest link.
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