According to Symantec’s Security Intelligence Report, this was an increase from Qatar’s previous ratio of spam in e-mail traffic of 73.1%. The rise in spam, combined with Symantec’s 2013 cybersecurity predictions, demonstrates that businesses and individuals in Qatar will continue to be a target for online crime and malware.
“In 2013, we foresee a continued increase in spam activity, as well as a steady rise in targeted attacks in Qatar with financial and political motivation,” said Justin Doo, Symantec cloud and security practices director (Middle East and North Africa).
“As these trends continue, organisations in Qatar will need to be vigilant about protecting their information by understanding their risk posture and deploying security policies and technologies to minimise the threats.”
Symantec said there was likely to be an increase in “cyber conflicts” this year.
Conflicts between nations, organisations and individuals will play an integral role in the cyber world. Nations or organised groups of individuals will continue to use cyber tactics in an attempt to damage or destroy the secure information or funds of its targets.
According to Symantec, a new “scareware” called “Ransomware” has surfaced.
Fake antivirus has begun to fade as a criminal enterprise, and a new and harsher model has emerged: ransomware, which infects a computer system and restricts access until a ransom is paid to the creator of the malware.
Ransomware goes beyond attempting to fool its victims; it attempts to intimidate and bully them. In 2013, attackers will use more professional ransom screens, up the emotional stakes to motivate their victims, and use methods that make it harder to recover data once compromised.
Mobile adware, or “madware,” disrupts the user experience and can potentially expose location details, contact information, and device identifiers to cybercriminals.
Madware, which sneaks onto a user device when they download an app—often sends pop-up alerts to the notification bar, adds icons, changes browser settings, and gathers personal information.
In the past nine months, the number of apps including the most aggressive forms of madware has increased by 210%. Because location and device information can be legitimately collected by advertising networks, Symantec expects increased use in madware as more companies seek to drive revenue growth through mobile ads.
Consumers place a high level of trust in social media—from the sharing of personal details, to spending money on game credits, to gifting items to friends. As these networks start to find new ways to monetise their platforms by allowing members to buy and send real gifts, the growing social spending trend also provides cybercriminals with new ways to lay the groundwork for attack.
Symantec anticipates an increase in malware attacks that steal payment credentials in social networks and trick users into providing payment details, and other personal and potentially valuable information, to fake social networks.
As unmanaged mobile devices continue to enter and exit corporate networks and pick up data that later tends to become stored in other clouds, there is increased risk of breaches and targeted attacks on mobile device data. Some mobile malware duplicates old threats, like stealing information from devices. But it also has created new twists on old malware.
