Emotet is a favorite tool for cybercriminals, according to new research.
According to eSentire 's Cyber Threat Report , most state-sponsored hacking groups are carrying out attacks aimed at espionage . Typically, hackers try to obtain important information using various tools that allow remote access to target systems .
Emotet is the leader
According to the report, 20% of the attacks recorded used Emotet malware. It is a leader in the black market and is the first choice for hackers. Emotet was the most common threat to both networks and endpoints.
According to experts, Emotet is the leader of the black market in the delivery-as-a-service sector.
Hackers try to cultivate trust to deceive victims
This tactic is seen in many cases, such as in phishing campaigns. Hackers use many techniques that help them bypass the defense mechanisms of systems, since they manage to appear legitimate and trustworthy.
Companies and users should follow the zero trust approach, which argues that we should not trust anyone and we should be very careful especially when we are online.
As stated in the report, targeted phishing campaigns offer trusted cloud services to host malware kits and fake sites while also using Emotet to steal credentials and gain access to accounts.
Additional findings
“Drive-by downloads” and “commodity malware”: They are still a threat. However, most companies have strengthened their security practices and can deal with them, so they are not the first choice of hackers.
Ransomware: Ransomware attacks are very common and mainly target governments, managed service providers and large enterprises.
Phishing attacks: Healthcare and manufacturing industries are particularly vulnerable to phishing attacks. They have improved their security against other threats, but not against phishing.
Cloud services are used in phishing campaigns: Services like Google and Microsoft Azure are used to host malicious pages.
Keegan Keplinger, head of research at eSentire, said that during his research he found that most large companies do not implement sufficient and effective security measures, putting valuable data at risk
Apparently, these organizations underestimate the complexity of modern hacking tools, but also the value of their data.
“Knowing who the attackers are, what tools they use, and how valuable your data and infrastructure are is fundamental to understanding the risk and protecting yourself,” he said.
