Highlighting the continued danger users face in the digital world, Kaspersky’s latest report has put a spot light on the fragile digital banking infrastructure that exists in India.
According to the report, precisely 889,452 users of Kaspersky Lab solutions were attacked by banking Trojans, an increase of 15.9% compared to 2017, when over 767,000 users were hit. The growth partially occurred due to increased activities of only one banker, according to an analysis of the financial threat landscape by Kaspersky Lab.
Attacks with banking Trojans or ‘bankers’ are among the most popular for cybercriminals as they are focused directly on financial gain. This kind of malware steals credentials for e-payment and online banking systems from victims, intercepting one-time passwords, and then sending the data to the attackers behind the Trojan.
Of the overall 889,452 attacked users, almost 25% were corporate ones, a figure that has remained fairly consistent for the last three years. According to Kaspersky Lab experts, the primary reason behind this, is the multiple gains that hackers get by attacking a corporate user. While attacks on consumers will only provide access to banking or payment system accounts, successful hits on employees can also compromise a company’s financial resources.
The collected data also shows that Russia became the most targeted nation in 2018, accounting for over 22% of global users attacked with banking malware. It is followed by Germany (with a share of over 20%) and India (almost 4%).
