Abnormal decline in mobile malware in Bahrain, says top cybersecurity firm

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Global cybersecurity and digital privacy announced witnessing a steady decline in attacks on mobile devices in the region in its latest report while analysing the threat landscape of Bahrain.

Kaspersky, in its 2021 report, says that overall mobile malware attacks have decreased by 13%, the riskware (grey area programs that might damage user experience), has fallen by 47%, as cybercriminals consolidated their efforts to focus on more complicated, dangerous and profitable threats instead.

 Other countries in the Middle East faced a similar trend: Egypt saw a staggering 52% decrease, followed by Qatar (47%), Kuwait (46%), UAE (29%) and Oman (27%).

The only two countries where the dynamic was different were Saudi Arabia with a 19% increase and Turkey, where the share increased by an anomalous 67%.

This dynamic is a reflection of the global trend, as cybercriminals tend to invest less and less into the mainstream threats that are successfully neutralized by modern security solutions.

Instead, they choose to invest more into new mobile malware that has become increasingly complex, featuring new ways to steal users’ banking and gaming credentials, as well as other strands of personal data.

For instance, in 2021 Kaspersky detected more than 95,000 new mobile banking Trojans in the world, but the number of attacks using such malware remained similar.

Additionally, the share of Trojans – malicious programs capable of executing remote commands – doubled, reaching 8.8% in 2021.

In addition to the strategic changes on the mobile threat landscape, experts also attribute the overall decline of mobile malware in 2021 to the enormous wave of attacks seen at the beginning of lockdown in 2020 as users were forced to work from home.

That period also saw increased use of various video conferencing and entertainment apps, increasing the volume and spread of attack opportunities.

Now that the situation has stabilized, cybercriminal activity declined as a result.