Security News > 2022 > May > Google Drive emerges as top app for malware downloads

The ascension of the use of search engines to deliver malware over the past 12 months provides insight into how adept some attackers have become at SEO. Malware downloads referred by search engines were predominantly malicious PDF files, including many malicious fake CAPTCHAs that redirected users to phishing, spam, scam, and malware websites.

The report also found that most malware over the past 12 months was downloaded from within the same region as its victim, a growing trend that points to the increasing sophistication of cybercriminals, which more frequently stage malware to avoid geofencing filters and other traditional prevention measures.

In most regions, the plurality of malware downloads originated from the same region as the victim.

Additional key findings Trojans continue to prove effective: Trojans account for 78% of all cloud and web malware downloads as attackers use social engineering techniques to gain an initial foothold and to deliver a variety of next-stage payloads, including backdoors, infostealers, and ransomware.

Popular cloud storage apps continue to be the source of most cloud malware downloads.

Microsoft Office malware files have declined to pre-emotet levels: EXE and DLL files account for nearly half of all malware downloads as attackers continue to target Microsoft Windows, while malicious Microsoft Office files are on the decline and have returned to pre-Emotet levels.

News URL

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/05/11/malicious-pdf-search-engines/