The internet is increasingly becoming an unsafe place, at least that’s what a new report from cybersecurity firm Kaspersky suggests. The report (via The EconomicTimes) claims that the number of devices affected by malware created to steal personal data increased by over 600% in the last three years.
More than 10 million personal and company devices were affected by malware in 2023, a 643% increase during the past three years. And the hackers can steal an average of 50.9 log-in credentials from each infected device. These credentials include log-ins for online banking apps, crypto wallets, social media accounts, and email.
The report further suggested that 443,000 websites across the globe had compromised credentials in the last five years. Out of these websites, the .com domain had the biggest number of compromised accounts at 326 million. Next on the list are 29 million compromised accounts from the Brazil (.br) domain, 8 million accounts compromised with the India (.in) domain, and the 6 million and 5.5 million compromised were related to Colombia (.co), and Vietnam (.vn) domains respectively.
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Data-Stealing Malware At An All-Time High
Kaspersky suggests that the number of data-stealing malware impacting businesses and consumers has reached 16 million.
"The dark-web value of log files with login credentials varies depending on the data's appeal and the way it's sold there. Credentials may be sold through a subscription service with regular uploads, a so-called 'aggregator' for specific requests, or via a 'shop' selling recently acquired login credentials exclusively to selected buyers. Prices typically begin at $10 per log file in these shops,"
- Sergey Shcherbel, cybersecurity expert at Kaspersky Digital Footprint Intelligence.
"These tools will continue to evolve, just as defensive tools do, with threat actors continuously refining their attacks to evade detection and utilizing new tools like AI to perform them at a larger scale,"
- Patrick Tiquet, vice president of security and architecture at Keeper Security.
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Apple Issued Grave Warning To iPhone Users In 92 Countries
Apple recently warned iPhone users in 92 countries about a ‘mercenary spyware’ attack. However, the company did not specify any groups responsible for these attacks and hasn’t named the countries where users were notified.
Apple warned users about their iPhones being targeted with spyware. Apple found out that users being targeted by a spyware attack that is operating remotely compromise the iPhone that is associated with their Apple ID.