Trojan malware doubled as 95K new mobile banking Trojans found in 2021

New Delhi: Security researchers have detected more than 95,000 new mobile banking Trojans in 2021, says a new report.

According to global cybersecurity firm Kaspersky, additionally, the share of Trojans — malicious programmes capable of executing remote commands — doubled, reaching 8.8 per cent in 2021.

“Cybercriminals tend to mask malicious apps under the guise of legitimate applications, which can often be downloaded from official app stores,” Tatyana Shishkova, security researcher at Kaspersky, said in a statement.

“On top of that, with mobile banking and payment apps becoming even more widespread, there is a higher chance of cybercriminals targeting these more actively,” Shishkova added.

The report mentioned that the number of attacks on mobile users worldwide has been declining, hitting 46 million in 2021 compared to 63 million in 2020.

In 2021, 3.5 million malicious installation packages were detected, leading to 46.2 million attacks worldwide.

Moreover, 80 per cent of attacks were carried out by malware rather than adware (software that intrusively displays ads), or RiskTools (malicious programs with various functions such as concealing themselves from the screen).

In addition, the number of attacks using banking Trojans, programmes designed to steal users’ banking credentials to later exploit them and drain targets’ bank accounts, have kept up the momentum. There were 2.367 million attacks in 2021, only six lakh fewer than in 2020.

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