Australian researchers have created “the largest publicly available dataset of malicious online activity” of its kind, hoping it will help cybersecurity experts predict what security threats will emerge in the future.
CRISO 61's Data61, Macquarie University, the University of Sydney and Nokia Bell Labs developed the dataset called FinalBlacklist and covers 10 years of data (from 2007-2017).
The dataset includes 51.6 malicious activity reports covering 662,000 unique IP worldwide. The reports include malware, phishing, fraudulent services, potentially unwanted programs, exploits, and spam messages, which are identified and categorized using machine learning technologies.
Professor Dali Kaafar, head of information security and privacy research at CSIRO's Data61, says malware has been a weapon for cybercriminals for the past 10 years.
“Last year, the WannaCry ransomware attack affected more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries, causing billions of dollars in damage. Ransomware remains a persistent threat, as evidenced by recent attacks on hospitals across Victoria,” explains Kaafar.
“Reports of phishing activitieshavealso increased steadily since 2009, coinciding with the widespread adoption of smartphones.”
Analysts and researchers will be able to define their algorithms to determine how the sources, types, and scale of malicious activity have changed over time, so that they are likely to predict exactly what will happen with malicious activity in the future.
According to data, the annual cost of cybercrime losses could reach $6 trillion by 2021.
Researcher Dr Liming Zhu adds: “The insights that can be gleaned from the FinalBlacklist dataset are a significant contribution to cybersecurity research. A retrospective analysis of historical trends in malicious activity could help reduce the impact of cybercrime on the economy.”
According to the researchers, other databases like these exist, but they often remain “private” due to privacy concerns and the desire to maintain a competitive advantage. In contrast, the FinalBlacklist dataset is publicly available.
Researchers offer these tips for avoiding malicious activities online:
- Keep your operating system current: Whether you use Windows , Mac OS, Linux , or any other operating system, keep it up to date. OS developers regularly release security updates that fix security issues.
- Don't pay the ransom: If your device is infected with ransomware and you've been locked out of your files, don't pay the ransom the hackers ask for. There are no guarantees that your files will be returned to you by the hackers.
- Think before you click: Don't click on a link in a strange email or open email attachments from someone you don't know. Hover over the link to check its validity.
- Don't reuse passwords: Use unique passwords for all your online accounts. Randomly mix symbols and numbers with letters. The longer and more complex your password, the more effective it will be at preventing brute-force attacks.
- Install ad blockers: Ads can be used to promote malware or malvertising (malicious advertising containing viruses) and these web extensions can prevent this.
- Install JavaScript-blockers: Privacy tools like NoScript proactively block malicious scripts and allow JavaScript, Java, and other potentially dangerous content only from trusted websites.
