IT threat evolution in Q2 2022. Mobile statistics

IT threat evolution in Q2 2022 IT threat evolution in Q2 2022. Non-mobile statistics IT threat evolution in Q2 2022. Mobile statistics These statistics are based on detection verdicts of Kaspersky products received from users who consented to providing statistical data. Quarterly figures Accordin...

Text-based fraud: from 419 scams to vishing

E-mail scammers typically combine social engineering with technical skills to bypass spam filters and persuade the recipient to reply. But there is a specific class of attacks that is technically stuck somewhere in the late 90s/early 00s, in the era of CRT monitors and sluggish internet: we are...

ISaPWN – research on the security of ISaGRAF Runtime

In early 2020, we notified the Rockwell Automation Product Security Incident Response Team RA PSIRT of several vulnerabilities we had identified in the ISaGRAF Runtime execution environment. According to public sources of information, ISaGRAF Runtime is used as an automation framework in multiple...

SAS 2021: Operation Software Concepts

During the Operation Software Concepts: A Beautiful Envelope for Wrapping Weapon talk on SAS-at-Home 2021, Rintaro Koike, Shogo Hayashi and Ryuichi Tanabe from NTT Security Japan will cover a new APT campaign named Operation Software Concepts. They will share details about this multi-stage attack...

Threat landscape for industrial automation systems in H1 2021

The H1 2021 ICS threat report at a glance Percentage of ICS computers attacked 1. During the first half of 2021 H1 2021, the percentage of attacked ICS computers was 8%, which was 0.4 percentage points p.p. higher than that for H2 2020. Percentage of ICS computers on which malicious objects were...

Detecting unknown threats: a honeypot how-to

Catching threats is tricky business, especially in todays threat landscape. To tackle this problem, for many years сybersecurity researchers have been using honeypots – a well-known deception technique in the industry. Dan Demeter, Senior Security Researcher with Kasperskys Global Research and...

Web skimming with Google Analytics

Web skimming is a common class of attacks generally aimed at online shoppers. The principle is quite simple: malicious code is injected into the compromised site, which collects and sends user-entered data to a cybercriminal resource. If the attack is successful, the cybercriminals gain access to...

Microcin is here

In February 2020, we observed a Trojan injected into the system process memory on a particular host. The target turned out to be a diplomatic entity. What initially attracted our attention was the enterprise-grade API-like application programming interface programming style. Such an approach is n...

Threat Predictions for Connected Health in 2018

The landscape in 2017 In 2017, Kaspersky Lab research revealed the extent to which medical information and patient data stored within the connected healthcare infrastructure is left unprotected and accessible online for any motivated cybercriminal to discover. For example, we found open access to...

KSN Report: Ransomware in 2016-2017

This report has been prepared using depersonalized data processed by Kaspersky Security Network KSN. The metrics are based on the number of distinct users of Kaspersky Lab products with the KSN feature enabled, who encountered ransomware at least once in a given period, as well as research into t...

How ToddyCat tried to hide behind AV software

To hide their activity in infected systems, APT groups resort to various techniques to bypass defenses. Most of these techniques are well known and detectable by both EPP solutions and EDR threat-monitoring and response tools. For example, to hide their activity in Windows systems, cybercriminals...

IT threat evolution Q3 2024

IT threat evolution in Q3 2024 IT threat evolution in Q3 2024. Non-mobile statistics IT threat evolution in Q3 2024. Mobile statistics Targeted attacks New APT threat actor targets Russian government entities In May 2024, we discovered a new APT targeting Russian government organizations...

How the Necro Trojan infiltrated Google Play, again

Introduction We sometimes come across modified applications when analyzing suspicious files. These are created in response to user requests for more customization options within the app or for new features that the official versions don't have. Unfortunately, it's not uncommon for popular mods to...

Using the LockBit builder to generate targeted ransomware

The previous Kaspersky research focused on a detailed analysis of the LockBit 3.0 builder leaked in 2022. Since then, attackers have been able to generate customized versions of the threat according to their needs. This opens up numerous possibilities for malicious actors to make their attacks mo...

FakeSG campaign, Akira ransomware and AMOS macOS stealer

Introduction The crimeware landscape is diverse. Cybercriminals try to capitalize on their victims in every possible way by distributing various types of malware designed for different platforms. In recent months, we have written private reports on a wide range of topics, such as new cross-platfo...

Crimeware and financial cyberthreats in 2024

At Kaspersky, we constantly monitor the financial cyberthreat landscape, which includes threats to financial institutions, such as banks, and financially motivated threats, such as ransomware, that target a broader range of industries. As part of our Kaspersky Security Bulletin, we try to predict...

Understanding Malware-as-a-Service

Money is the root of all evil, including cybercrime. Thus, it was inevitable that malware creators would one day begin not only to distribute malicious programs themselves, but also to sell them to less technically proficient attackers, thereby lowering the threshold for entering the cybercrimina...

Sneaky DoubleFinger loads GreetingGhoul targeting your cryptocurrency

Introduction Stealing cryptocurrencies is nothing new. For example, the Mt. Gox exchange was robbed of many bitcoins back in the beginning of 2010s. Attackers such as those behind the Coinvault ransomware were after your Bitcoin wallets, too. Since then, stealing cryptocurrencies has continued to...

Main phishing and scamming trends and techniques

There are two main types of online fraud aimed at stealing user data and money: phishing and scams. Phishers primarily seek to extract confidential information from victims, such as credentials or bank card details, while scammers deploy social engineering to persuade targets to transfer money on...

OnionPoison: infected Tor Browser installer distributed through popular YouTube channel

While performing regular threat hunting activities, we identified multiple downloads of previously unclustered malicious Tor Browser installers. According to our telemetry, all the victims targeted by these installers are located in China. As the Tor Browser website is blocked in China, individua...

WinDealer dealing on the side

Introduction LuoYu is a lesser-known threat actor that has been active since 2008. It primarily goes after targets located in China, such as foreign diplomatic organizations established in the country, members of the academic community, or companies from the defense, logistics and...

Advanced threat predictions for 2022

Over the past 12 months, the style and severity of APT threats has continued to evolve. Despite their constantly changing nature, there is a lot we can learn from recent APT trends to predict what might lie ahead in the coming year. Based on the collective knowledge and insights of our experts, w...

Redirect auction

Weve already looked at links under old YouTube videos or in Wikipedia articles which at some point turned bad and began pointing to partner program pages, phishing sites, or even malware. It was as if the attackers were purposely buying up domains, but such a scenario always seemed to us too...

Trojan watch

We continue to research how proliferation of IoT devices affects the daily lives of users and their information security. In our previous study, we touched upon ways of intercepting authentication data using single-board microcomputers. This time, we turned out attention to wearable devices:...

Spam and phishing in Q1 2018

Quarterly highlights Data leaks Early 2018 will be remembered for a series of data leak scandals. The most high-profile saw Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg grilled by US Congress, with many public figures supporting the Delete Facebook campaign. As a result, Zuckerberg promised to get tough and make...

Cybercriminals vs financial institutions in 2018: what to expect

Introduction – key events in 2017 2017 was a year of great changes in the world of cyberthreats facing financial organizations. Firstly, in 2017 we witnessed a continuation of cyberattacks targeting systems running SWIFT — a fundamental part of the world's financial ecosystem. Attackers were able...

Threat landscape for industrial automation systems in Q4 2025

Statistics across all threats The percentage of ICS computers on which malicious objects were blocked has been decreasing since the beginning of 2024. In Q4 2025, it was 19.7%. Over the past three years, the percentage has decreased by 1.36 times, and by 1.25 times since Q4 2023. Percentage of IC...

Arcane stealer: We want all your data

At the end of 2024, we discovered a new stealer distributed via YouTube videos promoting game cheats. What's intriguing about this malware is how much it collects. It grabs account information from VPN and gaming clients, and all kinds of network utilities like ngrok, Playit, Cyberduck, FileZilla...

XZ backdoor: Hook analysis

Part 1: XZ backdoor story – Initial analysis Part 2: Assessing the Y, and How, of the XZ Utils incident social engineering Part 3: XZ backdoor. Hook analysis In our first article on the XZ backdoor, we analyzed its code from initial infection to the function hooking it performs. As we mentioned...

Analysis of user password strength

The processing power of computers keeps growing, helping users to solve increasingly complex problems faster. A side effect is that passwords that were impossible to guess just a few years ago can be cracked by hackers within mere seconds in 2024. For example, the RTX 4090 GPU is capable of...

Threat landscape for industrial automation systems. H2 2023

Global statistics across all threats In the second half of 2023, the percentage of ICS computers on which malicious objects were blocked decreased by 2.1 pp to 31.9%. Percentage of ICS computers on which malicious objects were blocked, by half year Selected industries In H2 2023, building...

Dark web threats and dark market predictions for 2024

An overview of last years predictions 1. Increase in personal data leaks; corporate email at risk A data leakage is a broad term encompassing various types of information that become publicly available, or published for sale on the dark web or other shadow web sites. Leaked information may includ...

BlueNoroff: new Trojan attacking macOS users

We recently discovered a new variety of malicious loader that targets macOS, presumably linked to the BlueNoroff APT gang and its ongoing campaign known as RustBucket. The threat actor is known to attack financial organizations, particularly companies, whose activity is in any way related to...

A look at the 2020–2022 ATM/PoS malware landscape

During the pandemic, lockdowns forced people to stay at home and do their shopping online, which was mirrored in point-of-sale PoS and ATM malware activity, as certain regions saw malicious transactions drop significantly. Now, as we predicted in last years forecast, many are returning to their...

Dynamic analysis of firmware components in IoT devices

Among the various offensive security techniques, vulnerability assessment takes priority when it comes to analyzing the security of IoT/IIoT devices. In most cases, such devices are analyzed using the black box testing approach, in which the researcher has virtually no knowledge about the object ...

How much does access to corporate infrastructure cost?

Division of labor Money has been and remains the main motivator for cybercriminals. The most widespread techniques of monetizing cyberattacks include selling stolen databases, extortion using ransomware and carding. However, there is demand on the dark web not only for data obtained through an...

DDoS attacks in Q1 2022

News overview The DDoS landscape in Q1 2022 was shaped by the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine: a significant part of all DDoS-related news concerned these countries. In mid-January, the website of Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko was hit by a DDoS attack, and the websites of a number of...

Threat landscape for industrial automation systems, H2 2021

2021 is the second year we have spent living and working in the pandemic. By 2021 everyone got used to pandemic limitations – industrial organization employees and IT security professionals and threat actors. If we compare the numbers from 2020 and 2021, we see that 2021 looks more stable,...

QakBot technical analysis

Main description QakBot, also known as QBot, QuackBot and Pinkslipbot, is a banking Trojan that has existed for over a decade. It was found in the wild in 2007 and since then it has been continually maintained and developed. In recent years, QakBot has become one of the leading banking Trojans...

Why master YARA: from routine to extreme threat hunting cases. Follow-up

On 3rd of September, we were hosting our "Experts Talk. Why master YARA: from routine to extreme threat hunting cases", in which several experts from our Global Research and Analysis Team and invited speakers shared their best practices on YARA usage. At the same time, we also presented our new...

Netkids

Children today are completely at home in the digital space. They use digital diaries and textbooks at school, communicate via instant messaging, play games on mobile devices not to mention PCs and consoles, and create mini masterpieces on tablets and laptops. This total immersion in the digital...

New Project CAV3RN module abuses Outlook calendar events for C2 and DNS AAAA records for configuration recovery

Introduction In June 2026, as part of our Kaspersky Threat Intelligence Reporting service, we published extensive research on Project CAV3RN, a sophisticated modular framework used for cyberespionage activity against targets in Israel. We have been tracking this cluster since December 2025, and i...

The HoneyMyte APT evolves with a kernel-mode rootkit and a ToneShell backdoor

Overview of the attacks In mid-2025, we identified a malicious driver file on computer systems in Asia. The driver file is signed with an old, stolen, or leaked digital certificate and registers as a mini-filter driver on infected machines. Its end-goal is to inject a backdoor Trojan into the...

Mem3nt0 mori – The Hacking Team is back!

In March 2025, Kaspersky detected a wave of infections that occurred when users clicked on personalized phishing links sent via email. No further action was required to initiate the infection; simply visiting the malicious website using Google Chrome or another Chromium-based web browser was...

Dero miner zombies biting through Docker APIs to build a cryptojacking horde

Introduction Imagine a container zombie outbreak where a single infected container scans the internet for an exposed Docker API, and bites exploits it by creating new malicious containers and compromising the running ones, thus transforming them into new "zombies" that will mine for Dero currency...

A journey into forgotten Null Session and MS-RPC interfaces, part 2

In the first part of our research, I demonstrated how we revived the concept of no authentication null session after many years. This involved enumerating domain information, such as users, without authentication. I walked you through the entire process, starting with the difference between no-au...

The mobile malware threat landscape in 2023

The figures above are based on detection statistics received from Kaspersky users who consented to sharing usage data with Kaspersky Security Network. The data for years preceding 2023 may differ from that published previously, as the calculation methodology was refined, and the data was...

QBot banker delivered through business correspondence

In early April, we detected a significant increase in attacks that use banking Trojans of the QBot family aka QakBot, QuackBot, and Pinkslipbot. The malware would be delivered through e-mail letters written in different languages — variations of them were coming in English, German, Italian, and...

How scammers employ IPFS for email phishing

The idea of creating Web 3.0 has been around since the end of 2000s. The new version of the world wide web should repair the weak points of Web 2.0., some of which are: featureless content, prevalence of proprietary solutions, and lack of safety in a centralized user data storage environment, whe...

ScarCruft surveilling North Korean defectors and human rights activists

The ScarCruft group also known as APT37 or Temp.Reaper is a nation-state sponsored APT actor we first reported in 2016. ScarCruft is known to target North Korean defectors, journalists who cover North Korea-related news and government organizations related to the Korean Peninsula, between others...