BlackBerry: Global financial sector faces 'death by a million cuts' through malware attacks

SECURITY

A new report released today by BlackBerry Ltd. finds a significant increase in attacks targeting the global financial sector, with 1 million attacks recorded in the space of 120 days.

BlackBerry’s latest Global Threat Intelligence Report found that attacks on the global financial sector, described as “death by a million cuts,” primarily involved the use of commodity malware. The use of such malware is said to indicate that a large number of independent actors are targeting the industry in pursuit of financial gain.

Between September and December 2023, critical infrastructure attacks, including those targeting government, financial, healthcare and communications industries, accounted for 62% of industry-related attacks.

The BlackBerry Threat Research and Intelligence team also registered a 27% uptick in novel malware. Novel malware, as opposed to off-the-shelf, widely available commodity malware, refers to new, previously unseen types of malicious software that are often designed to evade detection by traditional cybersecurity measures.

BlackBerry said its artificial intelligence-powered cybersecurity solutions blocked 3.7 new malicious samples per minute over the reporting period, compared with 2.9 per minute in the previous reporting period.

The report found that 33% of all threats targeted commercial enterprises such as retail, manufacturing, automotive and professional services. A majority — 53% of those attacks — involved the deployment of information-stealing malware with the aim of accessing highly sensitive data.

Ransomware gangs were also observed taking advantage of new zero-day vulnerabilities — previously unknown ones — and mass-mobilizing against potentially vulnerable targets. The use of zero days indicates a rapid rise of common vulnerabilities and exposures by threat actors.

Of all the attacks tracked by BlackBerry from September to December, 76% targeted companies and organizations in the U.S., up from 57% in the previous reporting period. Australia was the second most targeted nation after not making the top five in the previous reporting period.

The report also highlights the rise of AI, noting that the increase in novel malware detected strongly indicates that AI plays a part in its development. The report warns that traditional antivirus methods of threat detection do not suffice and that AI and machine learning in defense will be a requirement to keep up with the pace of novel malware advancement.

“We’re consistently seeing increased volumes of attack in highly lucrative industries using novel malware,” said Ismael Valenzuela, vice president of Threat Research and Intelligence at BlackBerry. “We’ve reached a pivotal point where traditional detection methods alone are not enough to combat this increasingly complex problem. AI is already being weaponized by malicious entities, so it must equally be the dominant tool for detection and defense.”

Image: BlackBerry