28% of Aussie orgs impacted by cryptojacking in Q1

More than one in four (28%) Australian and New Zealand organisations were impacted by cryptojacking in the first quarter of 2018, up from 13% in the prior quarter, according to Fortinet’s latest Quarterly Threat Landscape Report.

The report found that cybercriminals are creating stealthy fileless malware to inject infected code into browsers.

Miners are targeting multiple operating systems and cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Dash and Monero, and are fine-tuning delivery and propagation techniques from other threat vectors.

Meanwhile, 21% of organisations reported encountering mobile malware, up 7% from the prior quarter, as attackers continue to target IoT devices.

Attackers have also been combining destructive malware with designer attacks on high-profile events such as the Commonwealth Games and Olympics.

For these type of targeted attacks, criminals conduct significant reconnaissance on an organisation before launching an attack. Examples include the Olympic Destroyer malware and the more recent SamSam ransomware.

Ransomware indeed continued to evolve in the first quarter, with the emergence of new delivery channels such as social engineering, and new techniques including multistage attacks to evade detection and infect systems.

“We face a troubling convergence of trends across the cybersecurity landscape. Malicious cyber actors are demonstrating their efficiency and agility by exploiting the expanding digital attack surface, taking advantage of newly announced zero-day threats, and maximising the accessibility of malware for bad intent,” Fortinet Regional Director for ANZ Jon McGettigan said.

“In addition, IT and OT teams often don’t have the resources necessary to keep systems appropriately hardened or protected. However, implementing a security fabric which prioritises speed, integration, advanced analytics and risk-based decision-making can enable comprehensive protection at machine speed and scale.”

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