• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

Microsoft uncovers macOS flaw allowing bypass TCC protections and exposing sensitive data

 | 

U.S. CISA adds Cisco ISE and PaperCut NG/MF flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

Critical WordPress Post SMTP plugin flaw exposes 200K+ sites to full takeover

 | 

Scattered Spider targets VMware ESXi in using social engineering

 | 

China-linked group Fire Ant exploits VMware and F5 flaws since early 2025

 | 

Allianz Life data breach exposed the data of most of its 1.4M customers

 | 

SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 55

 | 

Security Affairs newsletter Round 534 by Pierluigi Paganini – INTERNATIONAL EDITION

 | 

Law enforcement operations seized BlackSuit ransomware gang’s darknet sites

 | 

Arizona woman sentenced for aiding North Korea in U.S. IT job fraud scheme

 | 

Operation CargoTalon targets Russia’s aerospace with EAGLET malware,

 | 

Unpatched flaw in EoL LG LNV5110R cameras lets hackers gain Admin access

 | 

Koske, a new AI-Generated Linux malware appears in the threat landscape

 | 

Mitel patches critical MiVoice MX-ONE Auth bypass flaw

 | 

Coyote malware is first-ever malware abusing Windows UI Automation

 | 

SonicWall fixed critical flaw in SMA 100 devices exploited in Overstep malware attacks

 | 

DSPM & AI Are Booming: $17.87B and $4.8T Markets by 2033

 | 

Stealth backdoor found in WordPress mu-Plugins folder

 | 

U.S. CISA adds CrushFTP, Google Chromium, and SysAid flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

U.S. CISA urges FCEB agencies to fix two Microsoft SharePoint flaws immediately and added them to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • Malware
  • Security
  • PandaLabs has published the annual report 2012

PandaLabs has published the annual report 2012

Pierluigi Paganini February 11, 2013

Security Software Company PandaLabs has published the annual report on cyber threats proposing interesting statistics on the diffusion of malicious agent on personal computers during 2012.

Malware diffusion has registered new records, the security firm detected 27 million new malicious codes, around 74,000 new samples per day, the attacks have targeted government offices and multinational corporations from video game industry (Blizzard) to auto giants (Nissan).

“As a result, PandaLabs has now a total of 125 million classified malware samples. And the number keeps growing, aided by cyber-crooks eager to bypass antivirus protections to increase their profits. Trojans continued to account for most of the new threats, as three out of every four new malware strains created were Trojans.”

The 2012 registered a sensible increase of attacks against mobile platforms, Android market share continues to grow and an increased amount of malware targeting it, in January Google had to remove several malicious apps from its Android Market. The principal schema followed by cyber criminals is the repackaging of most popular games such as Angry Birds or Cut The Rope with malware. Once published on the app store users downloaded the infected apps unaware that they were also installing a malware.

Google company declared that it has managed to reduce malicious app downloads by 40 percent.

The figure proposed show a concerning scenario, around 31,98% of computers worldwide is infected, with peaks observed in China with 54.89% and South Korea at 54.15%. Of course the principal factors that advantaged the malware diffusion are the presence of unpatched systems, leak of defense systems and diffusion of counterfeit software.

MOST-MALWARE-INFECTED-COUNTR-IES-IN-2012

According the statistics proposed most secure countries are Sweden,Switzerland and Norway with infection rates of 20-21%.

Looking the data related to principal malware categories it is possible to note that Trojans dominate the scenario reaching 76.57 percent, Worms came second (11.33 percent compared to 8.13 percent in 2011), whereas viruses dropped to third place at 9.67.

“Over the last few years, the number of Trojans in circulation has been constantly increasing. In 2010 they accounted for more than half of all malware created (56 percent), in 2011 they rose spectacularly to 73.31 percent, whereas in 2012 they reached 76.57 percent. Worms came second (11.33 percent compared to 8.13 percent in 2011), whereas viruses dropped to third place at 9.67 percent compared to 14.24 percent in 2011”

MalwareCategories2012

 

In 2012 cyber criminals and state sponsored hackers have concentrated their effort in the exploit of vulnerabilities of large diffusion software, we saw how Java, which is installed on hundreds of millions of devices, was repeatedly compromised and used to actively infect millions of users. Adobe products, Acrobat Reader, Flash, etc. have been compromised several times massively infecting users as well as for targeted attacks.

Another vector exploited to infect large number of uses are Social networks platforms, using social engineering techniques the attackers trick users into collaborating to  infect their computers and steal their data is an easy task.

The 2012 is also considered the year of state-sponsored attacks, in different occasions have been detected governments offensive in the cyber space, the report highlight also another dangerous habit, many attacks are carried out by citizens who feel that they should defend their nation by attacking their neighbors using any means available.

In response to these attacks governments of the world’s leading nations are creating cyber commandos to prepare both defense and attack.

The report concludes that:

“The year 2013 presents itself full of challenges in the computer security world. Android users will have to face a growing number of attacks from cyber-crooks wanting to steal private information Cyber-espionage and cyber-war will also be on the rise, as more and more countries are organizing their own cyber-commando units. There is growing concern for the information that could be compromised and the possibility of using malware to launch direct attacks on critical infrastructure. Companies will have to tighten up security measures to avoid falling victim to the increasing number of cyber-attacks, while special care will have to be taken to protect networks against operating system and application vulnerabilities, with Java posing the biggest threat due to its multiple security flaws.”

Pierluigi Paganini


facebook linkedin twitter

2012 Android Java PandaLabs social networks state sponsored hackers

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini July 29, 2025
Microsoft uncovers macOS flaw allowing bypass TCC protections and exposing sensitive data
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini July 28, 2025
U.S. CISA adds Cisco ISE and PaperCut NG/MF flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    Microsoft uncovers macOS flaw allowing bypass TCC protections and exposing sensitive data

    Hacking / July 29, 2025

    U.S. CISA adds Cisco ISE and PaperCut NG/MF flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

    Security / July 28, 2025

    Critical WordPress Post SMTP plugin flaw exposes 200K+ sites to full takeover

    Security / July 28, 2025

    Scattered Spider targets VMware ESXi in using social engineering

    Cyber Crime / July 28, 2025

    China-linked group Fire Ant exploits VMware and F5 flaws since early 2025

    Hacking / July 28, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT