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Check Point Research Shows Surge in Active Malware Families During First Half of 2016 | |
Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2016 09:37:45 AM | |
New Threat Index shows number of malware families targeting business networks has grown 61 percent from January to June 2016, while mobile threats continue to increase rapidly SAN CARLOS, CA — Tue, 19 Jul 2016 Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP) today published its latest Threat Index, revealing the number of active malware families increased by nearly two-thirds in the first half of 2016, led by the number of threats to business networks and mobile devices. During June, Check Point detected 2,420 unique and active malware families attacking business networks, a 61 percent increase compared with January 2016 and a 21 percent increase since April. The continued rise in the number of active malware variants once again highlights the wide range of threats organizations’ networks face, and the scale of the challenges security teams must overcome to prevent an attack on their business critical information. Conficker remained the most commonly used malware in June, while the HummingBad mobile malware returned to the overall top-three threats across all platforms globally. In a detailed research report, Check Point revealed 85 million devices globally are infected by HummingBad, generating an estimated $300,000 per month in fraudulent ad revenue for the criminals behind it – highlighting how hackers are increasingly targeting mobile devices. In June, Conficker accounted for 14 percent of recognized attacks for the second month running; while second-placed Sality accounted for 10 percent and third-placed HummingBad for 6 percent of all attacks. The top-10 families were responsible for 50 percent of all recognized attacks.
Mobile malware families continued to pose a significant threat to businesses mobile devices during June with the top three remaining unchanged. The top-three mobile families were:
“The sustained, significant increase in the number of active malware families targeting business networks during the first half of 2016 highlights the escalating threat levels that organizations are currently facing,” said Nathan Schuchami, head of threat prevention, Check Point “Hackers are putting extensive effort into creating new, sophisticated malware families to defraud companies and steal data. Organizations need advanced threat prevention measures on their networks, endpoints and mobile devices to stop these threats before they fall victim to them.” |