Cybergangs embracing crimeware over social engineering

The APWG reports that there was a constant decline in the number of traditional phishing websites through September 2012, counterfeits usually impersonating well-known financial services companies or other brands.

This is a return to historical levels after a period of especially high activity, pointing up an increase in crimeware-based attacks.

The APWG received reports of 30,955 unique phishing sites in July — 24 percent lower than the all-time high of 40,621 reports recorded in August 2009.

The number of unique phishing e-mail reports (campaigns) received by APWG from consumers dropped from 33,464 in May to 21,684 in September, a decline of 35 percent.

Ihab Shraim, Chief Information Security Officer and VP, Anti-Fraud Engineering & Operations at MarkMonitor and a Trends Report ascribed the decline to the use of other fraudulent techniques, such as malware attack vectors. “However, it is unlikely that traditional phishing will stop since the cost of producing a phishing attack is almost insignificant,” he said. “Also, the decline is not universal across all brands.”

“Some professional phishers have moved from perpetrating mass phishing campaigns to exploit-style malware attacks,” said Rod Rasmussen, President and CTO of Internet Identity and a report contributor.

“These don’t show up as traditional phishing attacks. If anything, there are probably more “lures” of all types being generated, but with the destination being an exploit site with a drive-by download that infects users directly with malware, rather than a phishing site that attempts to steal credentials via social engineering,” Rasmussen added.

Other highlights of the Q3 2012 report include:

• China is back to being the top ranking country most infected by malware
• July 2012 saw 428 brands targeted by phishers, tying the all-time-high observed in April 2012. The number of brands attacked then declined. APWG members report that smaller institutions such as credit unions are being targeted less frequently.
• China is back to being the top ranking country most infected by malware
• Financial Services continued to be the most-targeted industry sector in the third quarter of 2012.