Banking Trojans see major rise in 2018

Kaspersky Lab has revealed a major rise in the number of banking Trojans, also known as "bankers". The company says it tracked almost 900,000 bankers in 2018, a 15 per cent increase compared to 2017, when it registered 767,000 attacks. Allegedly, there have been ‘increased activities of only one banker’ which, partially, can be blamed for the growth. Of the 889,452 attacks that were recorded, roughly a fifth were against corporations – a trend that’s remained ‘fairly consistent’ across the last three years, Kaspersky says. Russia has become the world’s most targeted nation last year, with more than a fifth (22 per cent) of all banker attacks being in this country. Germany ranks second with a 20 per cent share, while India is third, with a four per cent share. 2018 didn’t give individuals much respite from financial threats. Our research demonstrates that infamous banking Trojan attacks are still increasing in number and hunting for money. The RTM banking Trojan was particularly interesting; its explosive growth massively inflated the attack figures last year. In the wake of these findings, we urge people to maintain caution when conducting financial operations online from PCs. Never underestimate the professionalism of modern cybercriminals – and never leave your computer unprotected,” said David Emm, Principal Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab.