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2013's malware in review: Rising levels, most dangerous threats

A famous inspirational quote reads "Don't look back, you're not going that way." The message here is simple: Why dwell on the past when you should be looking forward to the future? However, another famous quote notes, "Learn from history or it will repeat itself." When it comes to nearly any trending topic, the former quote is a not a bad strategy to utilize. In these respects, it is important to review the past and leverage this knowledge to help prepare for the future, a combining the takeaways from both sayings.

In this spirit, one security firm recently released a report reviewing the malware threats of 2013, and its findings are somewhat surprising. While it is no secret that malware levels on both desktop and mobile endpoints are on the rise, the report found that of all the samples ever developed since malwares' inception more than 40 years ago, 20 percent of the strains were created in 2013, PCWorld stated. In other words, last year, users saw approximately 30 million new malware threats, or 82,000 new malicious samples each day.

2013's malware trends: Top sample types
According to another security firm's 2013 threat report, there were several samples that popped up frequently and caused significant damage last year, including ransomware, ZDNet stated. For those living under a rock and unfamiliar with ransomware, this style of attack presents a notification to users that their files have been locked through high-level encryption, and the device owner must pay a ransom to receive and decryption key to regain access to their materials. Researchers are now finding that ransomware exploit kits are available online, illustrating the continuation of this trend into 2014.

Another malware trend prevalent last year was mobile samples specifically targeting Android devices. ZDNet noted that a considerable amount of these strains were SMS Trojans which infect mobile endpoints and have the ability to send premium text messages or make phone calls without the user's permission. This results is large service bills from a range of extraneous charges.

Targeted malware attacks
Last year, researchers also noticed a rise in malware attacks targeting a specific industry or organization. One such example is the increase in distributed-denial-of-service attacks that victimized a number of global banking facilities, stated ZDNet. A considerable amount of U.S. banks were hit with these attacks in 2013, some of which were unable to carry out standard customer service processes due to the malicious infiltration. In many cases, hackers were also able to break into internal banking systems and steal significant amounts of money.

A number of well known business service providers were also attacked last year, including the high profile infections of several social media platforms, technology developers and consumer retailers. One of the most damaging malware attacks of this kind to occur last year was the Adobe hack, PCWord stated.

During this event, cybercriminals were able to compromise the source code for a number of products, in addition to exposing the usernames and passwords of more than 38 million users. However, this instance did teach a lesson.

"Sadly, what we learned is that nearly two million accounts - about five percent of the total - used the ridiculously insecure password of '123456' despite many similar breaches in the past and the often-repeated message from security experts to use more complex passwords," PCWord stated.

Protecting against malware infection 
As we "look back" and "learn from history," here are a few tips for preventing these types of attacks in 2014. Besides utilizing a longer, more complicated password for authentication, users can also seek to protect their sensitive data with encryption. This safeguarding strategy can be leveraged through an SSL certificate, and makes secured content unreadable to anyone without the decryption key, preventing unauthorized third party access.

Protect data in transit with an SSL certificate today.

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