July 2022’s Most Wanted Malware

Check Point Research (CPR) has published its latest Global Threat Index for July 2022. CPR reports that Emotet continues its reign as the most widely used malware, despite a 50% reduction in its global impact compared to the previous month.

After a peak in Emotet’s global impact last month, Emotet is back to its global impact numbers and continues as the most widespread malware. Possibly the peak ended, due to summer vacations as was seen in the past. Nevertheless, new features and improvements in Emotet’s capabilities are constantly discovered, such as its latest credit card stealer module developed, and adjustments done in its spreading systems.

July has also seen Snake Keylogger, a credential stealer, falling from third to eighth place. In June, Snake Keylogger was being spread via malicious Word documents so the decrease in its prevalence could be due in part to Microsoft’s recent confirmation that it will block macros by default. Replacing it in third place is XMRig, an open-source CPU software used to mine cryptocurrency – this indicates that cybercriminals are fundamentally ‘in it for the money’ despite any higher motivations they may claim, such as hacktivism. Malibot, which was new to the report last month, remains a threat to users of mobile banking as it is still the third most prevalent mobile malware worldwide.

“Emotet continues to dominate our monthly top malware charts,” said Maya Horowitz, VP Research at Check Point Software. “This botnet continually evolves to maintain its persistence and evasion. Its latest developments include a credit card stealer module, meaning that enterprises and individuals must take extra care when making any online purchases. In addition, with Microsoft now confirming that it will block macros by default, we await to see how malwares, such as Snake Keylogger, may change their tactics.”

CPR also revealed this month that “Web Server Exposed Git Repository Information Disclosure” is the most commonly exploited vulnerability, impacting 42% of organisations worldwide, closely followed by “Apache Log4j Remote Code Execution” with an impact of 41%. “Web Servers Malicious URL Directory Traversal” has remained in third place, with a global impact of 39%.

Top Malware Families in Australia

*The arrows relate to the change in rank compared to the previous month.

This month, Emotet continues to be the most widespread malware with a global impact of 7%, and national impact of 1.53%. This is then followed by Formbook, with a 0.71% impact in Australia, 4.38% globally and then Ramnit, with a 0.59% impact in Australia, 1.71% globally.

1. ↑ Emotet – Emotet is an advanced, self-propagating and modular Trojan. Emotet was once used as a banking Trojan, but recently is used as a distributer to other malware or malicious campaigns. It uses multiple methods for maintaining persistence and evasion techniques to avoid detection. In addition, it can be spread through phishing spam emails containing malicious attachments or links.
2. ↑ Formbook – Formbook is an Infostealer targeting the Windows OS and was first detected in 2016. It is marketed as Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) in underground hacking forums for its strong evasion techniques and relatively low price. FormBook harvests credentials from various web browsers, collects screenshots, monitors and logs keystrokes, and can download and execute files according to orders from its C&C. 
3.  ↑ Ramnit – Ramnit is a modular banking Trojan first discovered in 2010. Ramnit steals web session information, giving its operators the ability to steal account credentials for all services used by the victim, including bank accounts, and corporate and social networks accounts. The Trojan uses both hardcoded domains as well as domains generated by a DGA (Domain Generation Algorithm) to contact the C&C server and download additional modules.

Top Malware Families in New Zealand 

This month, XMRig continues to be the most widespread malware with a global impact of 1.71%, and national impact of 1.45%. This is then followed by Remcos, with a 1.66% impact globally, 1.09%impact in New Zealand and then Zegost, with a 0.73% impact in New Zealand, 0.57% globally.

1. ↔ XMRig – XMRig is open-source CPU mining software used to mine the Monero cryptocurrency. Threat actors often abuse this open-source software by integrating it into their malware to conduct illegal mining on victims’devices.
2. ↑ Remcos – Remcos is a RAT that first appeared in the wild in 2016. Remcos distributes itself through malicious Microsoft Office documents, which are attached to SPAM emails, and is designed to bypass Microsoft Windowss UAC security and execute malware with high-level privileges.
3. ↑ Zegost – Zegost is a backdoor targeting Windows platform. This malware provides unauthorized remote access to the infected host.

Top Attacked Industries in Australia

Education/Research is still the most attacked industry in Australia, followed by Insurance/Legal and Government/Military.

1. Education & Research  
2. Insurance/Legal
3. Government/Military

Top Exploited Vulnerabilities

Web Server Exposed Git Repository Information Disclosure” is the most commonly exploited vulnerability, impacting 42% of organisations globally. It is closely followed by “Apache Log4j Remote Code Execution” which dropped from first place to second with a slightly lower impact of 41%. “Web Servers Malicious URL Directory Traversal” has remained in third place, with a global impact of 39%.

1. ↑ Web Server Exposed Git Repository Information Disclosure – An information disclosure vulnerability has been reported in Git Repository. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an unintentional disclosure of account information.
2. ↓ Apache Log4j Remote Code Execution (CVE-2021-44228) – A remote code execution vulnerability exists in Apache Log4j. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow a remote attacker to execute arbitrary code on the affected system.
3. ↔ Web Servers Malicious URL Directory Traversal (CVE-2010-4598,CVE-2011-2474,CVE-2014-0130,CVE-2014-0780,CVE-2015-0666,CVE-2015-4068,CVE-2015-7254,CVE-2016-4523,CVE-2016-8530,CVE-2017-11512,CVE-2018-3948,CVE-2018-3949,CVE-2019-18952,CVE-2020-5410,CVE-2020-8260) – There exists a directory traversal vulnerability on different web servers. The vulnerability is due to an input validation error in a web server that does not properly sanitise the URL for the directory traversal patterns. Successful exploitation allows unauthenticated remote attackers to disclose or access arbitrary files on the vulnerable server.

Top Mobile Malwares

AlienBot is the most prevalent mobile malware, followed by Anubis and MaliBot.

1. AlienBot – AlienBot malware family is a Malware-as-a-Service (MaaS) for Android devices that allows a remote attacker, as a first step, to inject malicious code into legitimate financial applications. The attacker obtains access to victims’ accounts, and eventually completely controls their device.
2. Anubis – Anubis is a banking Trojan designed for Android mobile phones. Since it was initially detected, it has gained additional functions including Remote Access Trojan (RAT) functionality, keylogger, audio recording capabilities and various ransomware features. It has been detected on hundreds of different applications available in the Google Store.
3. MaliBot – Malibot is an Android infostealer malware that has been spotted targeting users in Spain and Italy. The infostealer disguises itself as crypto mining applications under different names and focuses on stealing financial information, crypto wallets and more personal data.