Four trillion security transactions reveal security highlights

In 2013, CYREN analyzed more than four trillion security transactions worldwide – averaging 10 to 15 billion transactions per day.

There’s been a marked increase in mobile malware, with a targeted focus on Android devices (173,000 unique new Android malware variants per month) as well as ransomware campaigns where victims were called to pay “unlocking fees” to regain access to hacked computers.

The number of phishing websites increased by 264% in 2013. PayPal was the number one target of phishing campaigns.

Spam levels continued to decrease. At the same time the total number of spam messages sent each day is still significant at 78 billion emails. CYREN also noted more targeted and localized attacks, as well as increased use of topical news stories to increase click-through rates.

Lior Kohavi, CTO at CYREN, comments: “Last year was a challenging year for Internet security, featuring high-profile breaches and ever-changing cyber crime tactics. And 2014 brings with it an added emphasis on mobile malware, with the bad guys continuing to target under-protected mobile devices. They’re also employing increasingly clever and localized campaigns to trap their next victims.”