India ranks third in financial trojan infections
India has moved up the rankings for countries with the most number of financial Trojan infections, as per the latest research from Symantec. This is a consistent rise as in 2014 it was ranked fifth and in 2013 the country ranked seventh among those with the most number of financial Trojan infections, only to be preceded by USA and Germany.
Globally, however, the total number of financial Trojan detections continued to decrease in 2015, with a 73 percent drop compared to the previous year. Despite that the financial Trojans are becoming far more capable and criminals are increasingly targeting institutions directly, said Symantec researchers.
The report infers that financial gain is still one of the major motivations behind most cyber criminal activities. According to researchers, every type of financial institutions are targeted, from small local branches to big global players. Globally, 547 institutions in 49 countries were targeted by the 656 analyzed financial Trojans. The financial sector was the highest targeted sector in January 2016 with 40.2 percent of all spear-phishing attacks. In India, over 60, 000 computers in India were compromised with financial Trojans in 2015, the study showed.
The primary distribution vector for financial fraud malware is through malicious spam email attachments, said Symantec. The trend of using office documents containing malicious macros as dropper continued in 2015. Dridex, which has emerged as one of the most dangerous financial threats over the past year, targeted a total of 315 different institutions, Shifu only 16.
Globally, however, the total number of financial Trojan detections continued to decrease in 2015, with a 73 percent drop compared to the previous year. Despite that the financial Trojans are becoming far more capable and criminals are increasingly targeting institutions directly, said Symantec researchers.
The report infers that financial gain is still one of the major motivations behind most cyber criminal activities. According to researchers, every type of financial institutions are targeted, from small local branches to big global players. Globally, 547 institutions in 49 countries were targeted by the 656 analyzed financial Trojans. The financial sector was the highest targeted sector in January 2016 with 40.2 percent of all spear-phishing attacks. In India, over 60, 000 computers in India were compromised with financial Trojans in 2015, the study showed.
The primary distribution vector for financial fraud malware is through malicious spam email attachments, said Symantec. The trend of using office documents containing malicious macros as dropper continued in 2015. Dridex, which has emerged as one of the most dangerous financial threats over the past year, targeted a total of 315 different institutions, Shifu only 16.
