THE Philippines joins Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico among the top 10 countries for Android malicious software (malware) detections, a report by Malwarebytes Inc. revealed.
“The high prevalence of Android malware detections in [these] countries can be attributed to the extensive use of relatively unsecured third-party app [application] stores in these countries,” the American Internet security company said.
“In the last year, we have seen a huge transition in the top malware threats and how they are distributed,” Malwarebytes Director of Malware Intelligence Adam Kujawa was quoted in the statement as saying.
“Attackers are always seeking the greatest possible profit, causing them to shift methodology per region and geography, based on user awareness and attack success rate.”
“In 2016 we observed the increased use of randomization utilized by the malware authors to evade detection from mobile security engines, resulting in an increase in the amount of mobile malware detected,” the nine-year-old cyber-security firm said in a statement on January 31, the release date of its report, titled “State of Malware Report”.
The security firm said mobile malware evades detection from mobile-security engines, resulting in an increase in the amount of mobile malware detected.
“To protect users from cyber criminals, we need to intimately understand their methodologies and tactics,” Malwarebytes CEO Marcin Kleczynski was quoted in the statement as saying. “Our findings demonstrate that the frequency and variety of new cyber attacks has crashed into people and businesses at an alarming rate.”
Kleczynski said the year 2016 involved an onslaught of ransomware, a surge of pernicious ad fraud and new, dangerous uses for botnets. “These threats have the potential to erode many of the gains that computing is providing global society,” he said. “Both consumers and businesses need to better understand how these new attack methodologies may impact them.”