When it comes to writing malware, the majority of threat actors seem to got their creative juices flowing, new research has claimed.
A report from BlackBerry claims the company has detected and stopped significantly more unique malware strains, recording the highest quarter-over-quarter increase ever documented.
The company’s latest Global Threat Intelligence Report, says its tools detected and stopped an average of 11,500 unique malware samples daily, between April and June 2024, a 53% increase compared to the January – March period.
Prioritizing impact
Ismael Valenzuela, Blackberry’s VP of Threat Research and Intelligence, believes this is what happens when new threat actors emerge, and old ones survive takedown attempts.
“This signals that these groups are allocating their resources to prioritize the impact of their attacks rather than sheer volume,” he noted. “Additionally, minor altering of a piece of malware might not seem very sophisticated but contributes to an overwhelming increase in the success and severity of attacks.”
So, creating unique malware increases the chances of success. BlackBerry adds that private data will continue being the number one target of these attacks.
Overall, BlackBerry’s tools apparently stopped 3.7 million cyberattacks in the period, or 43,500 every day. This is an 18% increase quarter-on-quarter, the company said, adding that critical infrastructure remained a top target (800,000 attacks). Of these numbers, 50% focused on the financial sector, up 10% quarter-on-quarter. Speaking of critical infrastructure, the industry experienced a significant uptick in attacks using unique malware, “due to its higher likelihood of success.”
Finally, the researchers added that the cybersecurity industry should be wary of emerging threats. Well-established actors such as LockBit remain a major threat, but cybersecurity pros should not ignore up-and-coming groups such as BlackSuit, or Space Bears.
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