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IT Threat Evolution in Q3 2011: From Malware in QR Codes to Targeted Attacks on Corporations

Posted: 04 Dec 2011 04:37 AM PST

Kaspersky Lab announces the publication of its IT Threat Evolution report for the third quarter of 2011. The company's analysts noted a continued growth in cyber-attacks against some of the world's biggest corporations throughout the period. When it comes to attacking smartphones, there were clear signs that cybercriminals have made Android their platform of choice. Increasingly sophisticated operations by malicious programs were also noted in Q3 along with some tried-and-tested methods: innocuous QR codes are now being used to conceal malware and computers are facing threats even before their operating systems start as cybercriminals revisit BIOS infection methods. Corporate Network Attacks The third quarter of 2011 saw corporate networks targeted by unidentified hackers as well as attacks by the hacktivist group Anonymous. Targets included the Italian cyber police, several US police units, and FBI contractors. Hackers also targeted the defense contractors Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Vanguard Defense. These, and numerous other similar attacks, resulted in malicious users gaining access to employee and customer data, internal documentation, correspondence and classified data. In July 2011, the DigiNotar certificate authority's servers were hacked, resulting in 531 rogue certificates being generated by cybercriminals. By using fake SSL certificates for websites, the cybercriminals could access [...]