"COVID-19-Themed Cyberattack Detections Continue to Surge"

McAfee researchers examined cybercriminal activity related to malware and the evolution of cyber threats in the third and fourth quarters of 2020. They published their findings in a new report.  In Q4, there was an average of 648 threats per minute, an increase of 60 threats per minute (10%) over Q3. The two quarters also saw COVID-19-related cyber-attack detections increase by 240% in Q3 and 114% in Q4, while Powershell threats again surged 208% due to continued increases in Donoff malware activity.  Mobile malware grew 118% in Q4 in part due to a surge in SMS Reg samples. The HiddenAds, Clicker, MoqHao, HiddenApp, Dropper, and FakeApp strains were the most detected mobile malware families.  The researchers also found that ransomware grew in volume 69% from Q3 to Q4, driven by Cryptodefense. REvil, Thanos, Ryuk, RansomeXX, and Maze groups topped the overall list of ransomware families.  MacOS malware exploded in Q3 420% due to EvilQuest ransomware but then slowed towards the end of the year.

Help Net Security reports: "COVID-19-Themed Cyberattack Detections Continue to Surge"