Tag Archive for: Accounted

Google Drive accounted for 50% of malicious Office document downloads

/in


OneDrive was responsible for 19% while 15% of malicious Microsoft Office documents were downloaded through Sharepoint in 2021.

A new report published by Atlas VPN has revealed startling new details about how widely used platforms like Google and Microsoft are exploited by attackers to spread malware.

The report should not come as a surprise because another report published last year revealed that nearly 43% of all malware downloads were hidden in infected MS Office documents.

Google Drive and Microsoft documents

The most surprising finding from Atlas VPN’s team is that in 2021 around 50% of malicious Microsoft Office documents out of all malware were downloaded from Google Drive, and 37% of all malware downloads on the platform were malicious office documents.

It is worth noting that Google Drive surpassed Microsoft OneDrive in terms of popularity in 2020, which caused 34% of all malicious office document download apps from this platform in 2020.

The research further revealed that MS OneDrive represented 19% of all malicious Office document downloads, while MS Sharepoint ranked third as users used it to download 15% of all malicious Office documents containing malware.

Google’s Gmail accounted for 4% of malicious office document downloads, and Box was used for 3% of office documents embedded with malware.

In the first quarter of 2020, out of all downloaded malware, the percentage of malicious office documents was 19%. This number increased to 46% in quarter two, while in quarter three and four of 2020, the percentage declines to 36% and 29%, respectively.

At the start of 2021, this percentage reached 43%, and by quarter four of 2021, the rate dropped to 37%.

Cybercriminals Abusing Cloud Applications

Atlas VPN’s cybersecurity writer William S stated that cybercriminals are abusing cloud applications for “personal benefits” since these services are becoming more popular among users lately.

Attackers can spread malware and steal data by targeting unsuspecting users with malicious documents. Securing your cloud apps with user authentication and threat monitoring tools will help mitigate malware attacks.

William S – Atlas…

Source…

Ransomware Accounted for 81% of Financial Cyberattacks in 2020

/in


The Biggest Ransomware Payouts in 2020

The report also highlights those companies that were worst hit by ransomware attacks last years, with some companies handing over eye-watering sums, just to get their businesses back on track again.

1. Garmin

Ordinarily being number one is the spot to strive for, but we suspect that Garmin could do without this particular accolade. According to the report, it was responsible for the biggest pay out, a huge $10 million, when it was the victim of a hack in July 2020.

The attack made headlines, and saw a majority of the companies servers go down, meaning that its customers were unable to use their devices, including smartwatches and aviation products.

The outage lasted four days. While it’s worth noting that the company never publicly acknowledged to have paid the ransom, insiders believe it’s the only avenue the company had to restoring its services.

2. CWT Global

This travel management company also received an unwelcome ransomware bill for $10 million but managed to negotiate it down to a slightly more palatable $4.5 million.

The attack also took place in July 2020, and used Ragnar Locker software, which is specially designed to target software used by managed service providers.

3. Travelex

This British foreign exchange firm, like CWT Global, were also able to negotiate the requested sum, bringing the initial ransom of $6 million down to ‘just’ $2.3 million.

The organisation behind the hack, the Sodinokibi gang, an organisation thought to be based in Russia, downloaded and encrypted 5GB of valuable company data.

Source…