Of course, being able to leverage popular platforms is advantageous for cybercriminals. While mobile vendors like Apple and Google do their best to sanitize the applications that their marketplaces host and distribute, this does not seem to be the case for popular file-hosting providers. However, hosting malicious files on popular websites is not enough.
Cybercriminals need to encourage their potential victims to download and install their software to succeed. The solution is just around the corner: social engineering. Table 2 lists the major websites offering three types of malware, namely dropper, adware and fake antivirus AV.
Based on the data, cybercriminals paid special attention to the choice of the domain names used for malware distribution. One example is webantiviruspro-fr. Similarly, wmicrodefender Meanwhile, we observed that droppers prefer generic file hosting providers that guarantee a high number of visitors and potential victims. Code signing is another important and interesting aspect that contributes to the success of malware operators. In fact, all modern and major operating systems now provide capabilities that limit validation and execution only to legitimate or signed software.
We came across multiple cases of certificate trading and abuse during our analysis. We will explore this aspect in a dedicated blog post that we plan to release soon. Infection model: Chrome beats other browsers at infecting endpoints. We are interested in identifying the most prominent targets for malware operators, which users are more susceptible to infections, and why.
We started looking at browsers as the primary platform for web downloads and considered Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari, and Internet Explorer. Table 3 reports the number and types of software downloaded by these popular browsers. On the other hand, of the , machines that were observed using Chrome, Of course, this could also mean that while Internet Explorer is automatically used as the default browser and automatically patched by corporate policies, some users tend to install a second personal browser like Chrome that they fail to keep updated.
As a result, these unpatched browsers become critical attack vectors for their endpoints and the entire corporate network. Table 2. An analysis of major web browsers featuring benign and malicious downloads and the number of infected endpoints for each.
While browsers contribute greatly to web downloads, other software commonly installed on endpoints, such as Windows applications, also play an important role. Our analysis highlights some important aspects, namely:.
Business model: Malware operators stick to threat campaign of choice. We also briefly investigated the business model of malware operators as seen through the eyes of their victims. To do so, we categorize the software downloads that appear to be malicious based on their types e.
In all the cases, we observed that malware operators tend to specialize in the businesses they ran. We observed the same behavior across operators of botnets, spyware, bankers, fakeavs, and adware. One potential explanation I can confidently provide is that today's cybercriminal ecosystem offers a more diverse set of competencies compared to that of the early s.
In fact, it seems like both the attackers and defenders improved through the years, thanks to each party's need to develop better solutions.
As a result, miscreants specialized to challenge improved defenses. In addition, from an economical aspect, and considering that modern cybercrime is entirely money-driven, the business model of a ransomware campaign, for example, is very different from that of a banker campaign — both in terms of monetization and of operational costs.
This makes it more complicated for a malware operator to change business models. The trick played by PUPs: A quick shift to more advanced threats. Adware and potentially unwanted programs PUPs , also known as potentially unwanted applications PUAs , warrant a different discussion. A common misunderstanding is that users think of potentially unwanted programs as an annoying problem rather than a potential risk — hence the name.
In fact, these programs tend to appear as unsophisticated software that displays ads to their users while not directly encrypting personal files or leaking sensitive information, which more aggressive forms of malicious software like malware normally does.
PUPs are actually more damaging than they appear. Similar to the experiment we described in the previous section, we tracked what these types of software do when executing on a victim machine for 30 days. Figure 2 depicts the time if any PUPs take to run, download and execute a more aggressive form of malicious software, i. Our analysis shows potential risks that regular users may not be aware of. Interestingly, in more than half of the cases, PUPs or adware transition to more aggressive malware on the same day they land on a compromised machine.
Of course, this value increases with the time. This means that if a PUP hits a user, it has a very high chance of resulting in a full compromise. In addition — and following our previous discussion on the role of cloud providers hosting and distributing questionable software — a user who downloads free software like an open-source video player is more likely to run into bigger issues.
Impact on organizations: Important questions, challenges raised. Overall, I believe our work raises important questions and challenges for the security industry, which includes the providers of security solutions and their users. I would like to summarize them here:. The internet is still mostly uncharted. A large portion of software files from unpopular websites are still largely unlabeled, and malware detection systems need labeled files to be able to defend internet-connected machines from infection.
Hence, a system of classification that uses machine learning technology to analyze files is all the more important. We made use of this human-readable machine learning system and explored other key findings on large-scale global download events in our research paper titled Exploring the Long Tail of Malicious Software Downloads. Alerts No new notifications at this time. For Home. Products Products Hybrid Cloud Security. Workload Security. Container Security.
File Storage Security. Pirating software is defined as illegally downloading or transferring software without the owner's permission. But it is not without its risks. Pirating may seem fun for hackers or tech enthusiasts, but it is illegal, and you can get charged with hefty fines or even get jailed. Pirating can also lead to your bank info or personal info getting stolen.
You might also not get good-quality software. Pirating also puts you at the risk of ad fraud. Since you downloaded the software illegally, you might not be able to update the software when required, and it might cost you some valuable working time.
October 20, Malware and Ransomware I come from a country where a former president thanked Bill Gates during his brief visit for the pirated version of Windows. Can Create A Backdoor for Hackers Malware like this can slow down your PC, create backdoors for hackers to access your PC remotely, delete or lock your files behind a ransom, and even steal personal information.
Pirating is Illegal Pirating may seem fun for hackers or tech enthusiasts, but it is illegal, and you can get charged with hefty fines or even get jailed.
Potential Malpractice Pirating can also lead to your bank info or personal info getting stolen. No Updates Since you downloaded the software illegally, you might not be able to update the software when required, and it might cost you some valuable working time. How To Report A Cybercrime. Cyber Security , Security. With the rise in crime, many people are fearful for their safety.
The Internet offers criminals new opportunities to commit What Is Cybercrime Spyware. Spyware is a part of cybercrime. It can be classified as malware that seeks access to your computer without permission. NEW DELHI: Popular apps on your smartphones can be fun and engaging but they may contain malicious software, or malware , which can give hackers access to your data.
Incidents of phones getting hacked and hackers exploiting personal data of users are not rare. Tech-savvy year-old Deepak, who is always glued to his phone and has the habit of downloading games, got to know this the hard way.
Within two hours of downloading a gaming app which seemed to be very engaging, his phone became slow and other apps in his phone started crashing and the phone hanged within no time.
That was the time he realised that the malware from the gaming app has been embedded in his phone. According to a study of more than , apps available from the Google Play store by cyber security company, NowSecure, Stay on top of technology and startup news that matters. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for the latest and must-read tech news, delivered straight to your inbox.
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