Most malware attacks were carried out through advertisements: Kaspersky

MUMBAI: The most widespread type of Trojan attack in 2016 was the advertising variety, accounting for 16 of the top 20 malware programs, Kaspersky, a Russian multinational cybersecurity and anti-virus provider headquartered in Moscow, Russia said Friday.

The more worrisome part is these Trojans can also buy applications on some platforms. These Trojans are capable of seizing rooting rights, allowing the malware to not only aggressively display ads on the infected device, often making it impossible to use, but also to secretly install other applications. These Trojans can also buy apps on Google Play, Kaspersky report said.

According to the report 2016 saw a threefold rise in mobile malware detection compared to 2015 – with a total of 8.5 million malicious installations identified. “This means that, in the space of just one year, a volume equivalent to 50% of all the malware detected in the previous 11 years (15.77 million in 2004 – 2015) was released. Leading the way were mobile advertising Trojans which now make up 16 of the top 20 malicious programs, up from 12 in 2015. These are the findings of Kaspersky Lab’s annual Mobile Virusology report, which also highlights the evolution of mobile banking Trojans. Specialist officers from INTERPOL’s Global Complex for Innovation have contributed an analysis of mobile malware on the Dark Web to the report,” the report said.