Security News > 2020 > August > Malware attacks abusing machine identities grew 8x over the last 10 years

Malware attacks using machine identities doubled from 2018 to 2019, including high-profile campaigns such as: TrickBot, Skidmap, Kerberods and CryptoSink.

Overall, malware attacks utilizing machine identities grew eightfold over the last 10 years and increased more rapidly in the second half of the decade.

"In the past, machine identity capabilities were reserved for high-profile and nation-state actors, but today we're seeing a 'trickle-down' effect. Machine identity capabilities have become commoditized and are being added to off-the-shelf malware, making it more sophisticated and harder to detect. For example, massive botnet campaigns abuse machine identities to get an initial foothold into a network and then move laterally to infect further targets. In many recorded cases, bots download crypto-mining malware that hijacks a target's resources and shuts down services. When successful, these seemingly simple and non-advanced attacks can inflict serious damage on an organization and its reputation."

Because most organizations do not have machine identity management programs in place, attacks exploiting machine identities are already causing serious economic damage.

"To protect our global economy, we need to provide machine identity management at machine speed and cloud scale. Every organization needs to ensure they have full visibility and comprehensive intelligence over every authorized machine they are using in order to defend themselves against the rising tide of attacks."

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