Kaspersky report reveals attacks on remote desktop protocols grew by 242% - reaching 3.3 billion - in 2020. The researchers discovered a 242% growth of brute force attacks on remote desktop protocols (RDP) compared to last year and 1.7 million unique malicious files disguised as apps for corporate communication appeared. Both of these findings reflect how attackers are putting their efforts into targeting users that work from home. These and other findings have been covered by Kaspersky researchers in the company’s ‘Story of the year: remote work’ report.
Having to move employees to working from home in such a short space of time opened up new vulnerabilities that cybercriminals were quick to target. The volume of corporate traffic grew, and users swiftly moved to using third-party services to exchange data, and work via potentially insecure Wi-Fi networks.
The report states that there is an increase in number of people using remote-access tools. One of the most popular application-level protocols for accessing Windows workstations or servers is Microsoft’s proprietary protocol - RDP.
Computers that have been made available to remote workers and incorrectly configured grew in number during the first wave of lockdowns across the globe, and so did the number of cyberattacks on them. These attacks were usually attempting to brute-force (systematically trying to find the correct option) a username and password for RPD. A successful attempt resulted in cybercriminals gaining remote access to the target computer in the network.
Aside from attacks on RDP, cybercriminals were quick to figure out that many workers replaced offline communication with online tools and so decided to abuse this demand too. Kaspersky detected 1.66 million unique malicious files that were spread under the guise of popular messenger and online conference applications, typically used for work. Once installed, these files would primarily load Adware – programs that flooded victims’ devices with unwanted advertising and gathered their personal data for third-party use. Another group of files disguised as corporate apps were Downloaders – applications that may not be malicious, but are able to download other apps, from Trojans to remote access tools.
“2020 can be seen as one of the most challenging years that hit us all with a major health and economic crisis. However, this year also helped us in fast-forwarding our healthcare and technological progress by putting us through various obstructions and limitations and pushing us towards overcoming these challenges with the help of science and technology. The sudden digital boost in a country like India has not only helped its citizens to grow online but has also made them more aware and careful of the potential online/ cyber threats. From government bodies to enterprises, small and medium businesses, banking institutions, online shopping websites, remotely working employees, students, healthcare professionals, and other online users, all have in the last 11 months become more aware of cybersecurity than ever before. The year has definitely seen a drastic increase in the number of cyberattacks all around the world, but it has also been very crucial in increasing the cybersecurity awareness and cyber maturity amongst people,” said Dipesh Kaura, General Manager, Kaspersky (South Asia).
“Organizations and consumers are now ready to talk openly about how they were attacked by cybercriminals, and these discussions are very necessary and helpful for us to understand the potential threats standing in our way and how improving our cyber immunity can help us fight against them”, added Kaura.
See What’s Next in Tech With the Fast Forward Newsletter
Tweets From @varindiamag
Nothing to see here - yet
When they Tweet, their Tweets will show up here.