McAfee publishes its threats report for the third quarter of 2013

Nov 22, 2013 12:32 GMT  ·  By

IT security giant McAfee has released its threat report for the third quarter of 2013. The report focuses on mobile malware, virtual currencies, spam and digitally signed malware.

As far as mobile threats are concerned, McAfee reports that a total of 700,000 new Android malware samples have been spotted in the third quarter. Attacks against this platform have increased by over 30%.

Part of this 30% increase is due to the discovery of the Android vulnerability that can be exploited to create malware that’s capable of bypassing digital signature validation. Cybercriminals have already started leveraging the flaw with a new family dubbed by McAfee Exploit/MasterKey.A.

“The efforts to bypass code validation on mobile devices, and commandeer it altogether on PCs, both represent attempts to circumvent trust mechanisms upon which our digital ecosystems rely,” noted Vincent Weafer, senior vice president of McAfee Labs.

“The industry must work harder to ensure the integrity of this digital trust infrastructure given these technologies are becoming even more pervasive in every aspect of our daily lives.”

In order to make their malware attacks more efficient, cybercriminals are turning more and more to digitally signed malware. In fact, the number of digitally signed malware samples has increased by 50%, to over 1.5 million new samples.

When it comes to virtual currencies, experts warn that illegal activities are facilitated by the emergence of new currencies that allow cybercriminals not only to make transactions, but also to launder their criminal proceeds.

Furthermore, as Bitcoin becomes more popular and more valuable, cybercriminals are turning more and more to the use of Bitcoin-mining malware.

“As these currencies become further integrated into our global financial system, their safety and stability will require initiatives leveraging both the financial system’s monetary controls and oversight and the technical controls and defenses our industry provides,” added Weafer.

Finally, the study shows that the global volume of spam has increased by 125%.

The study is based on information from 500 multidisciplinary researchers spread out across 30 countries. The complete “McAfee Labs Threats Report: Third Quarter 2013” is available on the company’s website.