Dive Brief:
- IBM’s annual threat report found the sophistication of malware is rising dramatically and becoming increasingly lucrative as a result, according to an eWEEK report.
- The report also found cybercriminals are using large teams of developers to create powerful malware.
- About 18% of attacks detected by IBM used malware, making it the largest category of threats recorded in 2015, according to the report.
Dive Insight:
IBM found that cybercriminals used three sophisticated families of malware — Dyre, Dridex and Carbanak — to steal hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars in 2015.
The industries most often targeted with malware attacks were computer services, retail and healthcare. Rather than a single attacker going after small sums, individuals are starting to work together to create strong malware that can capture more money. And rather than amateurs, the malware attacks are conducted by organized groups.
More sophisticated malware is bad news for businesses, especially since malware attacks have already wreaked havoc on a number of businesses. A recent malware attack used the cryptolocker virus to lock a Los Angeles hospital out of its systems until it paid a $17,000 ransom for the decryption key.
