Comodo Cybersecurity, a global leader
in threat intelligence and malware cyber defense, announced the release
of the company's Global Threat
Report 2018 Q3, offering unique insights from Comodo Threat
Research Lab experts into key cyberthreat trends and the impact of
malware on elections and other geopolitical events.
Email phishing remains the most
common method of attack. Highlights in the latest quarter include:
- Phishing represents one
of every 100 emails received by enterprises
- The
dubious distinction of the most frequently targeted brands by phishing in
the quarter went to Microsoft (19%), PayPal (17%) and Google (9.7%)
- Top
three phishing emails ranked by subject line were:
- "Your
account will be locked" - PayPal (40%)
- "Info"
- FedEx (10%)
- "August
Azure Newsletter" - Microsoft (8%)
- The
US ranked No. 1 for both hosting of phishing sites (65%) and country of
origin (36%)
- Phishing URLs are
gaining in popularity, representing 40% of the total, although infected
attachments remain the majority at 60%
Researchers cited one phishing
email as representative of the uptick in quality, making it harder for users to
identify the risk. An email purporting to be a survey regarding Microsoft
Azure's newsletter sported an authentic looking URL and logo, and did not have
the telltale grammar or spelling errors that often give away phishing emails.
Anyone clicking on the "Take the survey" button was sent to a malware-laden
webpage to covertly infect them, except for Comodo Cybersecurity clients who were
protected from day zero.
Hacking Democracy and
Malware in Conflict Zones
The Comodo Q3 report also reveals disturbing
upticks in malware deployment leading up to major national elections.
Comodo Cybersecurity researchers document the impact of malware on elections in
Russia, Turkey, Mali, Sierra Leone, Azerbaijan and Columbia. The report also
highlights the compelling correlations of malware detection leading up to and
immediately following geopolitical crises - events in the Syria civil war, the
ongoing machinations around the Iran nuclear weapons agreement, the
Israel-Palestine conflict and the military operations of Saudi Arabia against
Yemen.
"These
correlations clearly stand out in the data, beyond the realm of coincidence,"
said VP of Comodo Cybersecurity Threat Research Labs, Fatih Orhan. "It is
inescapable that state actors today employ malware and other cyberthreats as
both extensions of soft power and outright military weapons, as do their
lesser-resourced adversaries in asymmetric response."