Business is booming for the makers of malware, specifically adware. Adware is a particular type of malware designed to trick people into infecting themselves. Included among adware is malware that redirects you to fake sites, tech supports scams, and tricks intended to make it look like certain ads have more views than they really do. Adware infections jumped nearly 500% in 2019.
Crooks love adware because it’s relatively inexpensive to buy and it’s not particularly complicated to execute. It’s not like you have to hack into a system and sneak your malware onboard. The victims cooperate by doing most of the work for you.
According to the security experts at Malwarebytes, the two fastest-growing adware attacks of 2019 were Adware Search Encrypt with jumped 1,763%, Adware Mind.spark which jumped 497%, Adware.Fusion Core which jumped 419%.
Also on the rise are Emotnet and Trickbot infections targeting businesses. This malware often comes in the form of phishing emails designed to trick the recipient on a link that downloads malware onto their system.
Popular subject lines for these tricky emails included scanned documents from printers, harassment complaints, and tax documents.
What can you do?
- Always install security software no matter which operating system you’re running.
- Think twice, make that three times, before clicking on any links or attachments
- Make sure everyone in your household or business knows basic Internet safety rules.
If you’d like to check out Malwarebytes’ State of Malware Report for 2019, click here.