Emotet returns as the Top Malware Threat

Researchers at Check Point reported that the Emotet trojan has returned to first place in the top malware list, impacting 7% of organizations globally, following a spam campaign which targeted over 100,000 users per day during the holiday season.

In September and October 2020, Emotet was consistently at the top of the Global Threat Index, and was linked to a wave of ransomware attacks. But in November it was much less prevalent, dropping to 5th place in the Index.

Researchers state that it has now been updated with new malicious payloads and improved detection evasion capabilities: the latest version creates a dialogue box, which helps it evade detection by users.  Emotet’s new malicious spam campaign uses different delivery techniques to spread Emotet, including embedded links, document attachments, or password-protected Zip files.

First identified in 2014, Emotet has been regularly updated by its developers to maintain its effectiveness for malicious activity.  The Department of Homeland Security has estimated that each incident involving Emotet costs organizations upwards of $1 million dollars to rectify.

“Emotet was originally developed as banking malware which sneaked on to users’ computers to steal private and sensitive information. However, it has evolved over time and is now seen as one of the most costly and destructive malware variants,” said Maya Horowitz, Director, Threat Intelligence & Research, Products at Check Point. “It’s imperative that organizations are aware of the threat Emotet poses and that they have robust security systems in place to prevent a significant breach of their data. They should also provide comprehensive training for employees, so they are able to identify the types of malicious emails which spread Emotet.”

Emotet remains the most popular malware with a global impact of 7% of organizations, closely followed by Trickbot and Formbook – which impacted 4% of organizations worldwide, each.

Researchers also found out that “MVPower DVR Remote Code Execution” is the most common exploited vulnerability, impacting 42% of organizations globally, followed by “HTTP Headers Remote Code Execution (CVE-2020-13756)” which impact 42% of organizations worldwide. “Web Server Exposed Git Repository Information Disclosure” is on the third place in the top exploited vulnerabilities list, with a global impact of 41%.

The top mobile malware was Hiddad followed by xHelper and Triada.