LATEST INTELLIGENCE
MALWARE REVIEW: A LOOK BACK
AND A LOOK FORWARD
PRESENTED BY
T
hroughout 2017, major cyber events
that resulted in severe financial and
business-critical data loss dominated the
global media. From cyber-enabled banking heists
to WannaCry, NotPetya, and a second serving
of Shamoon, the critical threats posed to our
information security were glaringly apparent. While
these major events took the spotlight, less visible
evolutions in the threat landscape continued.
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Phishers demonstrated how quickly they could exploit
recently disclosed vulnerabilities, change how they
use or modify flexible malware, and how swiftly they
could profit from new attack surfaces. With the rise
in and proliferation of cryptocurrencies, the increase
in enterprise use of cloud platforms, and leaks of
sophisticated and highly effective exploitation
methods, attackers have more gates through which
they can access sensitive enterprise and personal
information and finances.
Furthermore, public disclosures of sophisticated
capabilities help less-sophisticated actors close the
gap as they are handed improved tactics, techniques,
and procedures (TTPs). This report details the
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emerging trends that defined 2017 and profiles areas
of priority for network defenders in 2018.
Delivery Methodologies
Over the past year, three notable malware delivery
trends emerged throughout the thousands of phishing
campaigns analysed by Cofense Intelligence.
First, we observed an increase in abuse of
legitimate software features to deliver malware,
complicating detection and mitigation by network
defence solutions.
Second, the rapid widespread exploitation of recently
disclosed vulnerabilities further exposed the dangers
of operating legacy operating systems and how
widely legacy systems are still in use, as well as the
insufficient speed with which many organisations
patch their systems.
Third, malicious actors are consistently innovating
phishing delivery techniques to keep pace with
changing technology trends and new attack surfaces
to increase infection rates and evade detection. n
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