Kaspersky: Mobile & Bitcoin Attacks Increase, Online Threats Down - Bank Systems & Technology

Bank Systems & Technology, By Jonathan Camhi

Fraudsters have focused heavily on online banking as a target for malware attacks over the last several years, but as more online activities move to mobile, industry experts have suspected that fraudsters would follow that traffic and aim more attacks at mobile. Kaspersky Lab’s "IT Threat Evolution" report for last quarter indicates that fraudsters are starting to focus more on mobile. The cyber security solutions provider detected 7,010 mobile banking Trojans in the third quarter of this year -- a record number, and more than three times as many mobile Trojans as detected the previous quarter.

Meanwhile online banking malware threats fell considerably, as Kaspersky Lab blocked 696,977 of those threats, a 24% decrease from the previous quarter. But the reason for the increase in mobile banking threats may surprise some, as the hike in mobile attacks may not be because of the movement of online traffic to mobile, Roel Schouwenberg, principal security researcher at Kaspersky Lab, says. Read more.