LAGOS – Kaspersky has released its annual Financial Threats Report for 2023, offering a detailed analysis of the evolving financial cyberthreat landscape.
The report reveals significant increases in mobile banking malware and cryptocurrency-related phishing, signaling growing threats to digital financial assets.
The previous 12 months has witnessed a substantial rise in the number of users encountering mobile banking Trojans, with attacks on Android users surging by 32% – contrary to 2022.
The most prevalent banking trojan was Bian.h, accounting for 22% of all Android attacks.
Geographically, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan recorded the highest share of users encountering banking Trojans, with Turkiye leading mobile banking malware attacks, with almost 3% of users affected (2.98%).
While the number of users affected by financial PC malware saw an 11% decline in 2023, Ramnit and Zbot were identified as the predominant malware families, targeting more than 50% of affected users. Consumers continued to be the primary target, comprising 61,2% of all attacks.
In 2023, financial phishing remained a significant threat, accounting for 27.32% of all phishing attacks on corporate users and 30.68% on home users. E-shop brands were identified as the top lure, with 41,65% of financial phishing attempts.
Additionally, PayPal phishing represented 54,78% of phishing pages targeting electronic payment system users. The report also highlighted a 16% year-on-year growth in cryptocurrency phishing, with 5,84-million detections in 2023 compared to 5,04-million in 2022.
E-shop phishing was identified as the most prevalent, recording 41.65% of all financial phishing pages. Amazon emerged as the most mimicked online store, accounting for 34% of phishing attempts, followed by Apple at 18,66% and Netflix at 14,71%. PayPal was the most targeted payment system, with 54,73% of attacks.
Cryptocurrency-related phishing and scams continued to grow, with Kaspersky preventing 5 838 499 attempts to follow cryptocurrency-themed phishing links – a 16% increase on 2022. Scammers mimicked cryptocurrency exchanges and offered coins in the name of large enterprises like Apple.