Dive Brief:
- Mobile malware grew almost 80% in the past four quarters to 16.7 million samples, according to a new report from McAfee. There are now 670 known samples of malware collected in the past four quarter, both mobile and otherwise.
- Mobile malware in particular has seen a spike in Asia, doubling in Q1 and adding to a 57% increase in the global infection rates, McAfee reports. A larger part of that growth stems from the rise of Android/SMSreg.
- Across the global threat network, McAfee found 301 security incidents in Q1 that were publicly disclosed. In the first quarter, 244 new threats appeared every minute, or more than four per second.
Dive Insight:
Cybercriminals continue to hone their skills and look for ways to outsmart typical enterprise protections, and they show no sign of slowing down over the years. For example, malicious steganography, the practice of concealing messages in images, audio tracks, video clips or text files to avoid detection by security systems, hides a secret message within what appears to be a legitimate message.
That kind of sleight of hand can trick even the most security-conscious and potentially infect scores of devices.
As companies employ a more mobile workforce, cybercriminals are taking note. Because malware, ransomware and other types of attacks can be financially rewarding, cybercriminals will continue to devise ways to trick employees into downloading malicious files on their mobile device or reveal sensitive corporate data that can give criminals a way into the corporate network.
The best protection, as always, is educating employees — mobile or otherwise — how to spot and avoid such traps. And a robust mobile device management system certainly won't hurt.
