Mobile malware detected in South Africa within 2019 saw a decrease in the number of attacked users compared to 2018.
According to Kaspersky researchers, the overall number of users attacked fell from almost 20 000 to around 12 700.
This, however, is different from the rest of the world. Mobile Advertising Trojans and stalkerware witnessed a solid rise globally in 2019, increasingly jeopardising the personal data of smartphone users.
These are among the major findings of the annual “Mobile Malware Evolution” report.
While Kaspersky’s global statistics demonstrated worrisome trends, South Africa’s users saw a decrease in attacks on their mobile devices in 2019 compared to the previous year.
Adware still remains South Africa’s main problem, accounting for more than half of attacks (7 778) in 2019, followed by Malicious Bankers (1 562).
The former collects troves of private information to show users targeted banner ads. Apart from the usually annoying banners, there is another dimension to this type of attack – victim’s sensitive data may end up on third-party servers without consent or knowledge.
The latter is a more serious threat: this kind of malware steals credentials for e-payment and online banking systems from victims, intercepting one-time passwords, and then sending the data to the attackers behind the Trojan.
However, 2019 saw relatively new stalkerware programs remaining at almost the same level as before and accounting for around 423 users (the figure for 2018 was 435).
While these numbers may seem insignificant compared to adware or bankers, one must keep in mind that stalkerware takes a more targeted effort to affect a victim. It requires a specific stalker to act and carry out its operation. These are commercial spyware applications, usually installed on devices without users’ knowledge or consent; they stay hidden, operating in the background.
These applications have access to significant amounts of personal data, such as device location, browser history, text messages, social media chats, photos and more. They not only share sensitive information with an abuser, but there is also room for a third-party hacker to gain access to stalkerware servers and collect all of this information for their own purposes.
Stalkerware is of growing interest to malicious users. Kaspersky’s latest stats, calculated using the stalkerware detection criteria suggested by the Coalition Against Stalkerware, show that globally attacks on the personal data of mobile device users increased from 40 386 unique users attacked in 2018 to 67 500 in 2019.
“Recent years have been marked by a growing awareness on the importance of mobile cybersecurity,” comments Victor Chebyshev, security expert at Kaspersky. “If in the middle of the 2010s the necessity of password protection of smartphones and safe internet access was far from being obvious to everyone, we see how rapidly it changes now and we are optimistic about the future.
“We believe that many countries will surely see significant improvements in terms of mobile security in 2020 as people are more mindful about their experiences online and protection of their phones. South Africa might be one of them.
“However, we should stay alert as the global picture differs a lot from country to country, and it is too early to name the new decade a safer one compared to the previous.”