Amazon-hosted malware triples in 6 months
Solutionary analyzed the threat landscape and identified the top 10 global ISPs and hosting providers that hosted malware out of more than 21,000 ISPs.
Amazon remained the top malware-hosting ISP and saw an increase of approximately 250 percent, while Q4 13’s second-most afflicted ISP, GoDaddy, fell 12 percent.
Rob Kraus SERT director of research, Solutionary said: “From an organizational perspective, attention to detail, especially the security basics, is often enough to deter a malicious individual or group of individuals. The tricky part of information security, and the reason we must always be mindful of the trends in the industry, is that the second you make it more difficult for a malicious actor, they have already moved on the next weak link.”
Other key findings:
GoDaddy, a hotbed for malware hosting in the past, saw a sharp decrease – Down from 14 percent in 2013, GoDaddy only accounted for 2 percent of malware hosted by the qualifying ISPs. While this may indicate improved efforts to identify and shutdown domains that are actively hosting malware, it is possible that malicious actors have simply moved on to other, smaller service providers such as new entrants Akrino and Website Welcome.
U.S. still number one malware-hosting nation – The United States extended its overwhelming lead from 44 percent of hosted malware tracked in Q4 2013 to 56 percent in Q2, 2014. France, Germany and China represent the next largest samples respectively.
Movers and Shakers: France, The Virgin Islands and Ireland all see increase in hosted malware; Germany, The Netherlands, Russia, The U.K. and Canada decrease – The decrease of malware in Russia is likely attributed to a string of arrests related to malware development, including a large portion of the ring responsible for the BlackHole exploit kit.
Top 10 ISPs represent source of more than half malware identified – Data shows that from more than 21,000 ISPs associated with captured malware samples, the top 10 were the source of 52 percent of the malware identified in the new period.