Sophos has warned of increasing cases of hand-delivered, targeted cyber attacks.
There is an emerging and evolving cyber security threats, said the firm. In 2018 there was advancement of hand-delivered, targeted ransomware attacks causing havoc in companies while earning criminals millions of dollars.
“The threat landscape is undoubtedly evolving; less skilled cyber criminals are being forced out of business, the fittest among them step up their game to survive and we’ll eventually be left with fewer, but smarter and stronger adversaries,’’ said Sophos chief technology officer Joe Levy.
According to a research by Sophos, Cyber criminals are using readily available Windows systems tools to deploy malware attacks on users.
“These new cyber criminals are effectively a cross-breed of the once esoteric, targeted attacker, and the pedestrian purveyor of off-the-shelf malware, using manual hacking techniques, not for espionage or sabotage, but to maintain their dishonorable income streams,’’ added Mr Levy.
The report identified that illegal Android apps are on the rise, and there is increased focus in malware being pushed to phones, tablets and other Internet of Things devices. As homes and businesses adopt more internet-connected devices, criminals have been devising new ways to hijack those devices to use as nodes in huge botnet attacks.
