According to a Kaspersky report, global mobile banking Trojan attacks on Android users increased by a third in 2023, while cryptocurrency-related phishing also increased sharply.
The most widespread banking Trojan was Bian.h, accounting for 22% of all Android attacks. Geographically, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan recorded the highest proportion of users exposed to banking Trojans, with Turkey leading the way in mobile banking malware attacks.
“With the emergence of new and aggressive malware strains, attackers are evolving their tactics to attack mobile devices more aggressively. This highlights the need for individuals and companies to maintain increased vigilance, update protection measures and strengthen device security accordingly,” said Igor Golovin , security expert, Kaspersky.
In contrast, the number of users affected by financial PC malware saw an 11% decline in 2023, with the Ramnit and Zbot families attacking more than half of affected users. Consumers continued to be the main target, accounting for 61% of all attacks.
Kaspersky says it prevented nearly six million attempts to follow cryptocurrency-themed phishing links – a 16% increase from 2022. Scammers imitated cryptocurrency exchanges and offered coins in the names of large companies like Apple.
In general, financial phishing remains a major threat, accounting for 27% of all phishing attacks against corporate users and 31% of all personal users. PayPal phishing accounts for more than half of phishing pages targeting electronic payment system users.
