Report: APT gang increased cyberattacks on businesses in Q3

Positive Technologies published a Cybersecurity Threatscape Q3 2019 update that found targeted attacks rose to 65% in Q3. Positive technologies also established that 81% of malware infections of corporate infrastructure originated with a phishing message. The targeted attacks in Q3 were mostly conducted by APT groups that pretend to represent government institutions, military entities, and telecom companies. Social engineering tactics were also utilized in 69% of Q3 attacks, a sharp increase from Q1’s percentage of 37%. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center claims that worldwide losses from BEC fraud total $26 billion over the past three years.

In September, PT Expert Security Center noticed that threat actor group TA505 was conducting a phishing campaign on European and African banks, using emails with malicious Office documents attached. As anti-phishing defenses are developed, hackers find new ways to circumvent these defenses. This is exhibited in Q3 when hackers tricked bank employees into sharing usernames and passwords through a compromised SharePoint site. Another significant shift Positive Technologies found was that mining software only represents 3% of attacks on organizations in Q3.

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