A new study by Kaspersky Lab has shown that various malware grew by 13,7 percent in 2019 and the cybersecurity firm attributes this to the rise of web skimmers.
According to Kaspersky Bulletin 2019, the number of unique malware detected using the company's web antivirus solution increased by a third year-over-year to over 24M due to a 187 percent increase in web skimmer files.
Kaspersky also found that other threats such as backdoors and banking Trojans have risen while the presence of cryptocurrency miners has dropped by more than half.
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These trends demonstrate a shift in the type of threats being used by attackers who are constantly looking for better ways to target users online.
Online skimmers
Online skimmers, sometimes referred to as sniffers, are scripts that are embedded by cybercriminals in online stores and are used to steal users' credit card information from websites.
The growth of unique online skimmer files (scripts and HTML) detected by Kaspersky Web Anti-Virus grew by 187%, reaching 510k. Web skimmers also made the firm's list of the top 20 malicious objects found on the web, and they ranked 10th in the overall ranking.
Kaspersky Lab's head of antivirus research, Vyacheslav Zakorzhevsky, explained why cybercriminals began attacking the favor of certain types while others were retreating in a press release, stating:
“The volume of Internet attacks has been on the rise for years, and in 2019 we saw a clear shift from certain types of attacks that are becoming ineffective to those focused on generating net profit from users. This is partly due to users becoming more aware of threats and how to avoid them, and organizations becoming more responsible. A good example is miners who have lost their popularity due to declining profitability and fight cryptocurrencies against stealth mining. This year we have also seen a rise in zero-day exploits showing products remain vulnerable and being used by attackers for sophisticated attacks, a trend likely to continue in the future.”
To prevent becoming a victim of a cyberattack, Kaspersky Lab recommends that you do not open suspicious files or attachments, do not download or install applications obtained from untrusted sources, do not follow links from unknown sources, use strong passwords by installing the latest updates, and ignore messages asking you to shut down systems security for Office and antivirus software.