Kaspersky – We Blocked Over 2.2 Billion Security Threats In Q1 2015

The first quarter of the year proved to be one of the most active in cybersecurity history as hackers show no sign of abating their attacks, research has shown.

Data from Kaspersky’s IT Threat Evolution Report for Q1 of 2015 show that despite the best intentions and efforts of security researchers all around the world, it seems that cybersecurity threats show no sign of slowing down.

The security firm detected 2.2 billion attacks on computers and mobile devices in just the first quarter of 2015, double the amount blocked in the same period last year,a figure described by Kaspersky as ‘monumental’.

This includes 469 million attacks launched from online resources located all over the world, a third (32.8 percent) more than in Q1 of 2014, with over 253 million unique malicious and potentially unwanted objects detected by the company.

Going global

The theme of this report, however, highlighted that attacks are now coming thick and fast from around the globe as attackers in any countries see the benefits.

“In the last few years, Kaspersky Lab has observed many advanced cyber-threat actors, appearing to be fluent in many languages, such as Russian, Chinese, English, Korean or Spanish,” said Aleks Gostev, chief security expert in the Kaspersky Lab Global Research and Analysis Team. “In 2015 we reported on cyber-threats ‘speaking’ Arabic and French, and the question now is ‘who will be next?’”

Russia came in for particular attention in the report, as 40 percent of web attacks repelled by Kaspersky Lab products were carried out using malicious web resources located in the country.

Last year Russia shared first place with the US, with the two countries accounting for 39 percent of web attacks between them.

Mobile threats

Threats affecting mobile devices were also a significant theme of the report, as the company highlighted how hackers continue to target smartphone and tablet users.

Increasingly, hackers look to be monetising their attacks, with the report stating that SMS Trojans, banker Trojans and ransomware Trojans capable of stealing or extorting money and users’ bank data accounted for 23.2 percent of new mobile threats in Q1 of 2015.

This includes 1,527 new mobile banking Trojans detected by the team, 29 percent more than in Q1 of 2014.

Elsewhere, mobile ransomware saw a 65 percent increase, with mobile browsers also recorded as accounting for 64 percent of mobile exploits, showing that users need to remain on their guard at all times.

However, there are signs of a minor fightback, as Q1 2015 saw 103,072 new malicious programs for mobile devices discovered – which was actually a 6.6 percent decline from the amount discovered in Q1 of 2014.

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