The highlights from the 2019 Symantec Internet Security Threat Report showcases the latest trends in cyber security attacks, including ransomware, formjacking, and cloud security.
Incidents of formjacking (The use of malicious JavaScript code to steal credit card details and other information from payment forms on the checkout web pages of eCommerce sites) trended upwards in 2018.
In the email security threats category, 48% of malicious email attachments were discovered to be Microsoft Office files.
Phishing emails also declined, dropping from 1 in 2,995 emails in 2017, to 1 in 3,207 emails in 2018.
The graphs and table statistics below shows various categories of threats and the percentage of attacks detected by Symantec in 2018.
Total Malware Percentage by OS (2018)
Top Malicious Email Attachment Types (2018)
Top Malware In 2018 – Windows
| wdt_ID | Malware Threat | Attacks Blocked | Percentage of Attacks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heur.AdvML.C | 43,999,373 | 52.10 |
| 2 | Heur.AdvML.B | 8,373,445 | 9.90 |
| 3 | BloodHound.SymVT.FP | 3,193,779 | 3.80 |
| 4 | JS.Webcoinminer | 2,380,725 | 2.80 |
| 5 | Heur.AdvML.S.N | 2,300,919 | 2.70 |
| 6 | W97M.Downloader | 1,233,551 | 1.50 |
| 7 | Packed.Dromedan!lnk | 1,215,196 | 1.40 |
| 8 | Hacktool | 846,292 | 1.00 |
| 9 | Hacktool.Kms | 763,557 | 0.90 |
| 10 | Trojan.Mdropper | 679,248 | 0.80 |
Top Malware In 2018 – Mac
| wdt_ID | Malware Threat | Attacks Blocked | Percentage of Attacks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | OSX.MacKeeper | 452,858 | 19.60 |
| 2 | OSX.Malcol | 338,806 | 14.70 |
| 3 | W97M.Downloader | 262,704 | 11.40 |
| 4 | OSX.Malcol.2 | 205,378 | 8.90 |
| 5 | Heur.AdvML.B | 166,572 | 7.20 |
| 6 | JS.Webcoinminer | 122,870 | 5.30 |
| 7 | Trojan.Mdropper | 77,800 | 3.40 |
| 8 | OSX.Shlayer | 59,197 | 2.60 |
| 9 | OSX.AMCleaner!g1 | 49,517 | 2.10 |
| 10 | JS.Downloader | 40,543 | 1.80 |
There was a decrease in ransomware activity during 2018, with the overall number of ransomware infections on user computers dropping by 20 percent.
Top Financial Trojans (2018)
| wdt_ID | Financial Trojan | Percentage of Attacks |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ramnit | 47.40 |
| 2 | Zbot | 17.60 |
| 3 | Emotet | 16.00 |
| 4 | Cridex | 5.50 |
| 5 | Carberp | 4.00 |
| 6 | Trickybot | 2.60 |
| 7 | Qakbot | 1.80 |
| 8 | Shylock | 1.30 |
| 9 | Bebloh | 1.00 |
| 10 | Cidox/Rovnix | 0.70 |
Cryptojacking (the use of various computer central processing unit (CPU) power to mine cryptocurrencies without the victims’ knowledge) continued to be one of the dominant features in the cyber security landscape in 2018.
Top Coinminers
| wdt_ID | Coinminer Threat | Percentage of Attacks |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | JS.Webcoinminer | 49.70 |
| 2 | WASM.Webcoinminer | 39.50 |
| 3 | Bitcoinminer | 7.40 |
| 4 | Bluwimps | 1.10 |
| 5 | XMRigminer | 1.00 |
| 6 | Coinminer | 0.70 |
| 7 | Zcashminer | 0.20 |
| 8 | Gyplyraminer | 0.10 |
| 9 | CPUMiner | 0.10 |
| 10 | Linux.Coinminer | 0.10 |
Subscribe To Our IT Newsletter
Join our mailing list to receive our news and updates.
