Barkly, a cybersecurity company focused on endpoint protection, released its 2018 Malware Trends Forecast, which details malware evolution during the past year.
Here are five malware trends that have gained traction since 2017.
1. Attacks that are "fileless," leveraging exploits and scripts rather than installing malicious files. These fileless techniques attempt to bypass traditional security measures that focus on scanning files, such as antivirus solutions.
2. Attacks that are "clickless," meaning they do not rely on tricking users into selecting a malicious application. Instead, these attacks take advantage of vulnerabilities to deploy remote execution exploits to infect computers.
3. Attacks that misuse legitimate system tools and processes already present on a computer, rather than deploying malicious files. Since these attacks take advantage of legitimate pathways, they are more difficult for many security measures to detect.
4. Attacks with built in "worm" capabilities. A worm, which is a type of contagious malware, will infect software and copy itself without the need for user action. Its goal is to spread malware infections quickly.
5. Attacks that leverage "cryptomining" to receive their payloads. In these attacks, a cyberattacker deploys cryptomining malware on a target's computer to process cryptocurrency transactions without the user's knowledge.
To access Barkly's report, click here.