Ever since last year when the COVID-19 pandemic strongfully forced a majority of the world's total workforce to go into remote working environments, cybercriminals have started to become increasingly crafty by using Microsoft Office files as a means of installing malware. This is a switch from the previous PDF files that were previously used to send malware.
Microsoft Office malware
A brand new report coming from the cybersecurity firm known as SonicWal now claims that it has witnessed a huge 67% spike in the total distribution of these malicious Office files ever since last year. The total rising popularity of Office as a way to distribute malware looks to have come even at the expense of PDF files, whose total use in malicious purposes have dropped by 22% within the given timeframe.
According to an article by TechRadar on Wednesday, March 17, a number of the malware variants that are reportedly being distributed this way are in fact brand new according to the further claims of SonicWall. Its very own analysis of the threat landscape showed a 74% increase in the total detection of entirely new types of malware year-on-year. Some time last year, there were a total of 268,362 new types of malware that have reportedly never been seen before.
IoT risks increases
As a result of employees taking certain work equipment home, cybercriminals are now also increasing their efforts against certain IoT devices. SonicWall also claims to have recorded a whopping 66% increase in total attacks against the said IoT devices. This now brings the total number all the way up to a whopping 56.9 million for the given year.
Cryptojacking is reportedly a process of "hijacking" a certain device and also using it to be able to mine cryptocurrency is also within the radar. This is because Bitcoin as well as the whole gang now reaches all-time-highs. Ransomware, as of the moment, also seems quite unstoppable and growing by a whopping 62% across the globe.
Read Also: New DearCry Malware Found in About 7,000 Microsoft Exchange Servers
Ryuk popular ransomware
Ryuk, was known to be a relatively unknown name in the whole ransomware world during the start of 2020 but it then rose to fame quite quickly and even became one of the best go-to ransomware variants for a number of criminals. SonicWall also claims that there have been over 109 million cases recorded around the world. An article by ZDnet points towards a 2017 vulnerability that was never patched as the reason behind the problematic hacks.
Out of all the different industries and companies that cyber criminals are targeting with their new ransomware, it was said that retail is experiencing the worst. The report also further claims that healthcare as well as the government sector were reportedly the second and the third biggest targets for the whole year.
SonicWall President and CEO Bill Conner noted that 2020 offered quite a perfect storm for cybercriminals as well as a critical tipping point for the whole cyber arms race. The whole report signifies how much malware has evolved over the years from PDFs to now Microsoft Office files.
Related Article: T-Mobile Hacked 2021: 200,000 Sensitive Customer Data Breached [Report]
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Written by Urian Buenconsejo
