Internet: The most used infection vector

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Data collected by TrendLabs from April to June shows the Internet and dropped by other malware are the number one channel in India through which malware arrived. This is followed by removable/physical devices (flashdisks etc) and email.

According to the analysis, similar to the past quarter, cybercriminals continue to take advantage of software vulnerabilities, current events (such as the FIFA World Cup), and the popularity of social media sites (Twitter, Facebook etc) to proliferate their malicious deeds. FAKEAV and blackhat SEO also made headlines this Q2.

The report also mentions that the much-awaited sports event, FIFA Wold Cup was also a hot topic abused by cybercriminals. Spammed messages that promise a prize or informing users that they won a certain lottery were seen. To claim the said prize, personal information is a “must” to give out. FIFA and the Gaza attack were also employed in Twitter-related attacks that lead to the download of malware. Trend Micro researchers also found a Twitter bot builder being distributed in the Internet for free. This tool can be used by bad guys to do distributed of denial-of-service attack.

Old technique like phishing is still being used to steal personal information. In fact, Trend Micro reported of a phishing page that imitated the Public Bank of Malaysia. Cybercriminals try to steal the bank’s clients information by making them believe that the login page is legitimate. The said bank is one of the leading banks in Malaysia that has offices in other countries like Cambodia, Hongkong, and China. On the other hand, spammed messages posing as newsletter from Amazon were spotted.  These bogus newsletters were sent by an alleged Amazon email address that tricked recipients into thinking they were real.

Also read: 'Law enforcement key to fight cybercriminals'

As cybercriminals deploy new techniques faster than ever, infrastructure applied in cloud computing to protect data and keep personal information secure is significant. “Since most of the cyber attacks come from the Net, a team working 24/7 for critical data is essential,” explained Amit Nath, Country Manager, India & SAARC, Trend Micro. “Phishing is still active in the marketplace, which means old methods never die, they are just get updated.”

As usual, cybercriminals also leveraged on software vulnerabilities: Adobe Reader (TIFF file), Skype component - EasyBits Extras Manager, Microsoft Windows Help Center,  and Adobe Flash Player to lead users to a series of malware infection.

Social media-related threats are seen as an emerging trend. At present, KOOBFACE is the largest Web 2.0 botnet that employed various social networking sites for its social engineering ploy. Other notable threats for this quarter include mass compromises that involved Chinese computer brand, Lenovo. Its support pages that were designed to allow users for downloads of drivers and manuals recently found compromised with malicious iframe. Similar cases happened in the West when 100,000 websites that include Wall Street Journal  and Jerusalem Post were compromised.

A malware particularly targeting Mac users is found bundled with free application and screensavers. Users who download and install the malicious software will be directed to specific URL where they get to download malicious programs. The infected systems may lose sensitive information as this malware is capable of spying on the victim’s networks.