UK recorded most malicious email attachments, reports Kaspersky

As per the spam report of November 2013 by Kasperksy Lab, malware was primarily used to steal valuable data in November. This involved cybercriminals using fake web pages that imitated those of large commercial organizations, banks and online stores. They also stole banking information directly from users’ computers. Once downloaded to a user device, malicious files would then send themselves to all the email addresses they could find on that device, or download and launch files from the Internet without the victim’s knowledge.

Spammers sent lots of malicious programs disguised as voice messages that were located in ZIP archives. Most malicious attachments were recorded in the UK, with 12.3% of all mail antivirus detections triggered.

“In the busy period before the holidays, it is worth being especially vigilant when it comes to messages from online stores, booking services as well as banks and payment systems. In the weeks before the holidays, there is a surge in the number of purchases and financial operations made over the Internet, which is why scammers send out more phishing messages in the hope that the recipients aren’t as attentive as usual,” said Tatyana Shcherbakova, Senior Spam Analyst, Kaspersky Lab.

The leading types of organization targeted by phishers were unchanged, with social networks (26.9%), email services (19.2%) and search engines (16.5%) making up the top three.  Financial and e-payment organizations (16.1%) remained in the fourth place, but the proportion of attacks on these organizations continues to grow – rising in November by 0.7 percentage points. Once again, the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group was targeted with phishing pages imitating the organization’s official site.