Malwarebytes has released its latest report digging into the state of malware in 2023. The findings include recent key security developments, 5 cyber threat archetypes to watch out for this year, what type of malware was found most on Macs, and more.
Malwarebytes shared the 30-page 2023 State of Malware report today. In its opening, the company says:
“The old rules of cybersecurity are dead. No longer can your business rely solely on the best security software to defend you from your attackers’ most dangerous malware. Now, the fight is increasingly human—it’s your best people against their worst.”
As old attack vectors have closed up, criminals are turning to social engineering more than ever.
Kicking off the report are six key events in 2022 that impacted cybersecurity:
- Ukraine conflict
- The strategic importance of the Ukraine conflict made it a useful social engineering lure, and the Malwarebytes Threat Intelligence team saw the topic of the war being used as a theme in attacks against German targets by suspected Russian state actors, and against Russian targets by suspected Chinese state actors.
- Ransomware
- Ransomware groups experimented with new tactics throughout 2022, although few of those tactics caught on. One tactic that may see more success in 2023 is buying access to companies via disgruntled employees.
- Macros
- In 2022, Microsoft announced that it would block macros in Office documents downloaded from the Internet, finally putting the brakes on one of the most productive malware delivery systems ever invented.
- Authentication
- It has taken a long time to settle on a genuinely viable alternative, but in May, Google, Apple, and Microsoft pledged substantial support for FIDO2, a mature, extant, and globally recognized standard for password-free authentication.
- Roe v Wade
- The most consequential change to data privacy in 2022 occurred in June, when the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Overnight, concerns about digital privacy broke into the mainstream as previously benign data points—such as locations, shopping habits, search histories, and menstrual cycles—acquired a potentially life-changing significance.
- TikTok
- In June, US Federal Communications Commission commissioner Brendan Carr delivered the most outspoken criticism so far of the social media app TikTok, calling it “an unacceptable national security risk” because of its extensive data gathering, as well as “Beijing’s apparently unchecked access to that sensitive data.”
Most common malware on Mac
While Macs are less bombarded with malware than Windows, they’re not immune. Across 2022, Malwarebytes says the most common detection on macOS was adware.
10% of all detections on Mac were from a single adware called OSX.Genio – what the firm considers the “worst.” The report notes that while it’s classified as adware, it has malware-like behavior “to dig further into the computers it’s installed on, piercing defenses and compromising security in the name of making itself extremely difficult to remove.”
OSX.Genio works by hijacking browsers and making money through “intercepting users’ web searches and injecting its own intrusive ads into the results.”
Malware detections made up 11% of the total, 14% was from Adware Operator, with a variety of others rounding out the list.
The rest of the report digs into the most common ransomware called LockBit, the shapeshifting Emotet malware, Android droppers, the post-macro melee, and more.
Check out the full report from Malwarebytes for all the details.
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