Analysis Reveals the Emergence of Triple Extortion and a Possible End to the Hacker Holiday

WATERLOO, ON, Oct. 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — OpenText™ (NASDAQ: OTEX), (TSX: OTEX), today announced the Nastiest Malware of 2022, a ranking of the year’s biggest cyber threats. For the fifth year running, OpenText Security Solutions’ threat intelligence experts combed through the data, analyzed different behaviors, and determined which malicious payloads are the nastiest. Emotet regained its place at the top, reminding the world that while affiliates may be taken down, the masterminds are resilient. LockBit evolved its tactics into something never seen before: triple extortion. Analysis also revealed an almost 1100% increase in phishing during the first four months of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021, indicating a possible end to the “hacker holiday,” a hacker rest period following the busy holiday season.

“The key takeaway from this year’s findings is that malware remains center stage in the threats posed towards individuals, businesses, and governments,” said Muhi Majzoub, EVP and Chief Product Officer, OpenText. “Cybercriminals continue to evolve their tactics, leaving the infosec community in a constant state of catch-up. With the mainstream adoption of ransomware payloads and cryptocurrency facilitating payments, the battle will continue. No person, no business—regardless of size—is immune to these threats.”

While this year’s list may designate payloads into different categories of malware, it’s important to note many of these bad actor groups contract work from others. This allows each group to specialize in their respective payload and perfect it.

2022 Nastiest Malware

1. Emotet remains the most successful botnet in existence, following a brief shutdown last year. Its job is to send malspam campaigns to billions of emails a day. It creates a foothold on a victim’s computer, with follow-up malware that will then move laterally and compromise the rest of the environment before bringing in the final payload of ransomware.
2. LockBit is this year’s most prolific and successful ransomware group. While the group has been around for about three years as a ransomware-as-a-service…