The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Australian Cybersecurity Center (ACSC) have selected 11 malware families as the top threats.
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The list consists of malware that acts as banking trojans, remote access trojans, information stealers, and ransomware delivery tools.
The agencies recorded that the top malware strains of last year are: Agent Tesla (information stealer), AZORult (information stealer), Formbook (information stealer), Ursnif (banking Trojan), LokiBot (Trojan credential stealer), MOUSEISLAND (ransomware delivery), NanoCore, (credential stealer), Qakbot (multi-purpose trojan), Remcos (remote access trojan), TrickBot (multi-purpose trojan/ransomware delivery) and GootLoader (multi-payload malware platform).
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The malware on the list is primarily used for financial gain , not, say, cyber espionage . “The most prolific malware users among the top malware actors are cybercriminals, who use malware to deliver ransomware or facilitate the theft of personal and financial information ,” CISA notes in the advisory.
Some malware – TrickBot for example – started as a banking trojan but evolved into modular malware and have since served as access brokers for ransomware groups, such as the infamous Conti gang , using its network of already compromised machines .
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CISA also offers an overview of how the malware ecosystem operates and how industry players continue to fund, support , and improve their malware.
Information source: zdnet.com
