Sophisticated IoT Attacks and an Increase in Fake Apps
REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (BUSINESS WIRE) Avast, the global leader in digital security products, today announced
the launch of its annualThreat
, detailing the biggest security trends facingconsumers in 2019 as collected by the Avast Threat Labs team.
The Avast Threat Labs team sees roughly one million new files a day and
prevents two billion attacks every month. This volume provides valuable
insights into the most prevalent threats, as well as the ability to map
trends to predict future attacks.
Some of the key security trends that will evolve or continue to impact
consumers in 2019 include:
The Dawn of Adversarial AI
We foresee the emergence of a class of attacks known as ‘DeepAttacks’,
which use AI-generated content to evade AI security controls. In 2018,
the team observed many examples where researchers used adversarial AI
algorithms to fool humans. Examples include the fake Obama video created
by Buzzfeed where President Obama is seen delivering fake sentences, in
a convincing fashion.
We have also seen examples of adversarial AI deliberately confounding
the smartest object detection algorithms, such as fooling an algorithm
into thinking that a stop sign was a 45-mph speed limit sign.
In 2019, we expect to see DeepAttacks deployed more commonly in an
attempt to evade both human detection and smart defences.
IoT Threats Will Become More Sophisticated
The trend toward smart devices will be so pronounced in the coming years
that it will become difficult to buy appliances or home electronics that
are not connected to the internet.
Avast research has shown that security is often an afterthought in the
manufacturing of these devices. While the big name smart devices often
do come with embedded security options, some producers skimp on security
either to keep costs low for consumers or because they are not experts
in security. Considering a smart home is only as secure as its weakest
link, this is a mistake. History tends to repeat itself, so we can
expect to see IoT malware evolve and become more sophisticated and
dangerous, similar to how PC and mobile malware developed.
Router Attacks Will Advance
Routers have proven to be a simple and fertile target for a growing wave
of attacks. Not only have we seen an increase in router-based malware in
2018, but also changes in the characteristics of those attacks.
In 2019, we expect to see the increased hijacking of routers used to
steal banking credentials, for example, where an infected router injects
a malicious HTML frame to specific web pages when displayed on mobile.
This new element could ask mobile users to install a new banking app,
for instance, and this malicious app will then capture authentication
messages. Routers will continue to be used as targets of an attack, not
just to run malicious scripts or spy on users, but also as an
intermediate link in chain attacks.
The Evolution of Mobile Threats
In 2019, well known tactics such as advertising, phishing and fake apps
will continue to dominate the mobile threat landscape. In 2018, we
tracked and flagged countless fake apps using our apklab.io platform.
Some were even found on the Google Play Store. Fake apps are the zombies
in mobile security, becoming so ubiquitous that they barely even make
the headlines as new fake apps pop up to take the place of the ones
already flagged for removal. They will continue to persist as a trend in
2019, exacerbated by fake versions of popular app brands doing their
rounds on the Google Play Store.
In 2018, the return of banking Trojans was also particularly pronounced
on the mobile side, growing 150 percent year-on-year, from three percent
to over seven percent of all detections we see worldwide. While perhaps
not a big shift in terms of the overall volume, we believe that
cybercriminals are finding banking to be a more reliable way to make
money than cryptomining.
“This year, we celebrated the 30th anniversary of the World Wide Web.
Fast forward thirty years and the threat landscape is exponentially more
complex, and the available attack surface is growing faster than it has
at any other point in the history of technology,” commented Ondrej
Vlcek, President of Consumer at Avast.
“PC viruses, while still a global threat, have been joined by a
multitude of malware categories that deliver more attacks. People are
acquiring more and varied types of connected devices, meaning every
aspect of our lives could be compromised by an attack. Looking ahead to
2019, these trends point to a magnification of threats through these
expanding threat surfaces.”
These trends form part of Avast’s annual Threat Report. To download the
full report please click here .
About Avast
Avast (LSE:AVST) is the global leader in digital security products. With
over 400 million users online, Avast offers products under the Avast and
AVG brands that protect people from threats on the internet and the
evolving IoT threat landscape. The company’s threat detection network is
among the most advanced in the world, using machine learning and
artificial intelligence technologies to detect and stop threats in real
time. Avast digital security products for Mobile, PC or Mac are
top-ranked and certified by VB100, AV-Comparatives, AV-Test, OPSWAT,
ICSA Labs, West Coast Labs and others. Visit: www.avast.com
Contacts
Media Contact
Leonora Fleming
leonora.fleming@avast.com
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