14 DAY TRIAL // Researchers from Commtouch Security have determined how long it takes cybercriminals to start exploiting national or global news stories. In the last three months, the average time between the event and its exploitation was of around 22 hours.
Breaking news is often exploited by cybercriminals in malware distribution campaigns. We’ve seen malicious campaigns leveraging the Boston Marathon bombings, the NSA leaks, the recent Syrian conflict, and the new Pope’s election.
Experts have noticed that over the past months, the average start time of a malware campaign that relied on breaking news started to decrease.
For instance, the news about the Pope’s election in March was exploited 55 hours after the actual event. The Boston Marathon bombings from April were leveraged after 27 hours.
The more recent events related to the royal baby, Edward Snowden and Syria were exploited even faster.