Cryptomining Dethrones Ransomware As Top Threat In 2018 According To Webroot’s Mid-Year Threat Report Update

Also, Phishing Attempts Seen by Webroot Increased by More Than 60 percent

Webroot, the Smarter Cybersecurity® company, shared the results of its Webroot® Threat Report: Mid-Year Update, which explores the evolving cybersecurity landscape. Based on trends in the first half of 2018, Webroot found that cybercriminals are shifting to increasingly sophisticated and targeted means of attack while also expanding their money making endeavours, as shown by the uptick in cryptojacking and cryptomining. This report also highlights the importance of implementing a robust and evolving security approach to protect valuable data and keep systems secure.

Key Report Findings:

• There has been a massive shift from ransomware to cryptomining.
  • Malware in general, including ransomware and cryptomining, accounted for 52 percent of threats in the first half of 2018.
  • Cryptomining uses the victim’s computer processing power to mine cryptocurrency. While currently a nuisance to businesses, this threat is on track to consume an estimated three percent of the world’s electricity by 2020, according to block chain specialist lex de Vries.
• Cryptojacking scripts are on the rise.
  • Cryptojacking—the malicious browser scripts that hijack website visitors’ CPU power to mine cryptocurrency—accounted for 35 percent of threats.
  • Of the many millions of URL requests Webroot sees each day, customers attempted to visit sites running cryptojacking scripts approximately 3 percent of the time.
  • com tops the list of most popular cryptomining domains, garnering 31 percent of traffic. Coinhive.com was not far behind with 28 percent of traffic.
• Windows® 10 adoption increases.
  • 75 percent of consumers and 40 percent of businesses have shifted to the more secure Windows 10 operating system, as compared to 72 percent of consumers and 32 percent of businesses making the change at the beginning of the year.
• Ransomware attacks exploit unsecured RDP to find the most valuable targets.
  • Criminals are seeking out unsecured Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) connections as an attack vector, both to access and infect systems and to perform reconnaissance. Criminals can also buy access to systems known to have unsecured RDP on the dark web.
• Phishing attempts skyrocket and Dropbox is now primary target for phishing attacks.
  • Phishing attempts increased by more than 60 percent from January to June 2018.
  • Dropbox overtook Google in the first half of 2018 as the most impersonated company for phishing attacks, accounting for 17 percent of phishing emails.
  • In addition to revealing sensitive consumer and business data, such as financial accounts, personal information, and corporate intellectual property, accessing a business’ Dropbox can expose cryptokeys, potentially unlocking a massive amount of mission-critical and highly sensitive data.
• Businesses are realising the necessity for security awareness training programs.
  • Due to the large numbers of cybersecurity threats in 2018, employee security awareness is becoming a key component in organisations’ security strategy.
  • Research proves that risk decreases as more security awareness training and phishing attack simulations are implemented:
    • Companies that ran one to five campaigns saw a 33 percent phishing click-through rate.
    • For companies that ran 6–10 campaigns, the click-through rate dropped to 28 percent.
    • For companies that ran 11 or more campaigns, click-through rates decreased to only 13 percent.