Mobile and IoT Malware

With illegal Android apps on the increase, 2018 has seen an increased focus in malware being pushed to phones, tablets and other IoT devices. As homes and businesses adopt more internet-connected devices, criminals have been devising new ways to hijack those devices to use as nodes in huge botnet attacks. In 2018, VPNFilter demonstrated the destructive power of weaponized malware that affects embedded systems and networked devices that have no obvious user interface. Elsewhere, Mirai Aidra, Wifatch and Gafgyt delivered a range of automated attacks that hijacked networked devices to use as nodes in botnets to engage in distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, mine cryptocurrency and infiltrate networks.

“Attackers are finding novel ways to evade detection by Google and get malicious apps published on the Play market,” Scott Barlow said. “Routers and IoT devices are ripe for takeover because users infrequently change default passwords. If this seems like a perennial problem, it is. Cryptojacking is also a growing trend in mobile and on embedded devices, though the return on investment for each individual device is extremely low.” (Sophos)