Trickbot has claimed the top spot as most prevalent malware in New Zealand in December, according to Check Point Research.
Check Point Research, the Threat Intelligence arm of Check Point Software, has published its latest Global Threat Index for December 2021, identifying the top 10 malware affecting New Zealanders in December 2021.
Top 10 Malware in New Zealand for December:
In December, Trickbot claimed the top spot as most prevalent malware, impacting 2.36% of New Zealand cyber incidents, overtaking Formbook, which was first in November 2021.
Most concerningly, Trickbot impacted a greater number of cases in New Zealand than Formbook in the previous month, where the latter impacted 1.36% of New Zealand cyber incident cases.
Trickbot, 2.36% of New Zealand cyber incident cases impacted by this specific malware
Trickbot is a modular Botnet and Banking Trojan that targets the Windows platform, primarily delivered via spam campaigns or other malware families such as Emotet. Trickbot sends information about the infected system and can also download and execute arbitrary modules from a large array of available modules: from a VNC module for remote control to an SMB module for spreading within a compromised network.
Once a machine is infected, the Trickbot gang, the threat actors behind this malware, utilise this wide array of modules not only to steal banking credentials from the target PC but also for lateral movement and reconnaissance on the targeted organisation itself prior to delivering a company-wide targeted ransomware attack.
Remcos, 1.35% of New Zealand cyber incident cases impacted
Remcos is a RAT that first appeared in the wild in 2016. Remcos distributes itself through malicious Microsoft Office documents attached to SPAM emails, and is designed to bypass Microsoft Windows' UAC security and execute malware with high-level privileges.
Mirai, 0.34% of New Zealand cyber incident cases impacted
Mirai is a well-known Internet-of-Things (IoT) malware that tracks vulnerable IoT devices, such as web cameras, modems and routers, and turns them into bots. Its operators use the botnet to conduct massive Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. The Mirai botnet first appeared in September 2016. It quickly made headlines due to large-scale attacks, which included a massive DDoS attack that knocked the entire country of Liberia offline and a DDoS attack against the internet firm Dyn, which provides a significant portion of the US internet infrastructure.
Evilnum, 0.34% of New Zealand cyber incident cases impacted
The EVILNUM malware was first uncovered in 2017, and its toolkit was primarily used to infect carefully selected targets in the fintech sector. Its main functionality is the ability to capture screenshots of the desktop and active windows of the user. The screenshots are exfiltrated to EVILNUM's control and command server. As a result, the attackers can gather sensitive information about the victim.
Formbook, 0.34% of New Zealand cyber incident cases impacted
First detected in 2016, FormBook is an InfoStealer targeting Windows OS. It is marketed as MaaS in underground hacking forums for its strong evasion techniques and relatively low price. FormBook harvests credentials from various web browsers, collects screenshots, monitors and logs keystrokes, and can download and execute files according to orders from its C-C.
GhOst, 0.34% of New Zealand cyber incident cases impacted
Backdoor.Win32.Ghost is a Backdoor type malicious program that targets the Windows platform. The malware is designed to give malicious users remote control over an infected computer.
Glupteba, 0.34% of New Zealand cyber incident cases impacted
Known since 2011, Glupteba is a backdoor that gradually matured into a botnet. By 2019 it included a C-C address update mechanism through public BitCoin lists, an integral browser stealer capability and a router exploiter.
Groooboor, 0.34% percentage of New Zealand cyber incident cases impacted
Groooboor is a backdoor Trojan, which can download various malware to the user's computer as crypto miners, ransomware and other malicious software.
Hawkeye, 0.34% of New Zealand cyber incident cases impacted
Hawkeye is an Info Stealer malware, designed primarily to steal users' credentials from infected Windows platforms and deliver them to a C-C server. Recently, Hawkeye gained the ability to take screenshots and spread via USB in addition to its original functions of stealing email and web browser passwords and key logging. Hawkeye is often sold as a MaaS (Malware as a Service).
Badur, 0.34% of New Zealand cyber incident cases impacted
Badur is a Trojan that employs a Steam gaming platform bot that adds people as friends and sends a shortened link, which contains a malware program disguised as a screensaver file. It creates a backdoor that allows a malicious program to enter your system when executed. The malware is designed to steal Steam login data and take over the account.
Malware families Maze, Zenpak, Raccoon, Ramnit, RigEK, XMRig and LockBit, were tied in tenth place, each impacting 0.34% of New Zealand cyber incident cases in December.