NEW PROVIDENCE, N.J.—Banking malware threats are increasing as cybercriminals target the rising popularity of mobile banking apps on smartphones with plots aimed at stealing personal banking credentials and credit card information.
The Nokia 2021 Threat Intelligence Report showed an 80% year-on-year increase in the first half of the year in the number of new banking trojans, which also try to steal SMS messages containing one-time passwords, Security Magazine reported in its analysis.
According to the report, the strategies employed by banking trojans included capturing keystrokes, using a transparent overlay to capture banking login information, screenshotting sensitive information and targeting Google Authenticator codes.
Significantly widespread malware apps noted by the report included FluBot, BlackRock and Cerberus, among others.
Android Devices Primary Targets
“Banking malware has been targeted mainly at Android phones, for years the most targeted mobile device type for cybercriminals due to Android’s ubiquity and developer openness, with some banking trojans among the most successful malware attacks in 2021,” Security Magazine reported. “Cyberattacks on Android devices made up more than 50% of all monitored malware attacks on mobile devices.”
The Nokia report indicated that most banking applications allow users to add a multi-factor authentication feature to their accounts to make it more difficult for cybercriminals to obtain personal information.