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Turning Malware Trends into Proactive Behaviors

Most of the industry agrees: malware is on the rise. My news feed rarely manages a week without an incident making the headlines. Here are some of the most recent events I’ve seen:

• Online retailer Newegg suffered a data breach at the hands of the same threat actor that’s responsible for recently infiltrating Ticketmaster and British Airways.
• Investigators learned that the website for Nova Scotia Business Inc. had been infected with malware as far back as 2012. Those involved with the investigation said there were several suspicious attempts to access data stored on the website in April 2018 but that no personal information had been compromised in those attempts.
• Europol warned in its 2018 Organised Crime Threat Assessment that ransomware “remains the key malware threat in both law enforcement and industry reporting” given the rise of targeted attacks and campaigns backed by nation-states.

To be sure, there’s an abundance of news reports from an increasing number of big businesses detailing significant breaches, as well as research papers arguing that the number of malware samples continues to grow. But press coverage alone might not give you the full picture.

So, how can you take the malware trend reports and get to the key facts that can drive a forward-thinking approach to security? One way is to break down the claims into something that: is easy to understand, passes a “does this make sense?” test, and offers a real opportunity to harden up your defenses in a practical fashion.

Take, for example, the fact that these malware trend reports from the International Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics and Trend Micro. Both identify that malware variants are increasing. New versions of successful malware are becoming a quick win for their creators, while relatively minor changes can prevent detection in many cases. (Read more...)