Kaspersky findings show a 55% increase in financial attacks in Saudi Arabia

Kaspersky Security Network (KSN)’s latest statistics have revealed the changing cyber threat landscape across the GCC region. Saudi Arabia had the second-highest significant increase of 55% in financial malware during the first half of this year compared to last year’s same period. The latest findings from KSN disclosed that the financial malware seen across the GCC region has increased by 45%in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period last year.

The Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) is a specialized infrastructure designed to process threat information and transform them into actionable insights. The highest increase in financial malware is in Oman, with a staggering 72% increase. The United Arab Emirates follows with an increase of 42.5% in financial malware.

Maher Yamout, Senior Security Researcher at Kaspersky, commented on these findings, saying, “There is no doubt that organizations and individuals are prone to various forms of cyber threats within the GCC region. As the world navigates its way through this new normal and adapting to working from home, this change comes with its own set of cyber threats that everyone needs to adapt to. These findings display the importance of being vigilant about the different malware that could pose a potential risk.”

As mobile and internet banking is becoming the new norm in light of the ongoing pandemic, cybercriminals make it much easier to target unsuspecting users. Users who are not aware of the steps they need to take when conducting their financial transactions online might unknowingly fall victim to fraud. These could be the reasons for an overall increase in financial malware across the GCC region. Financial malware is aimed at stealing financial data and occupies a large part of the cybersecurity threat landscape. Finance is the most appealing motivation for cybercriminals, and Kaspersky’s latest findings have shown that this type of malware shows no signs of slowing down in the aforementioned countries.

The findings have also revealed that Saudi Arabia had a slight increase of 3.4% in phishing attacks over the same period this year. Even with the decrease in phishing attacks in the GCC region (16.4%), Saudi Arabia still faces this. Despite the increase Saudi Arabia has seen in phishing and financial attacks, the country saw a significant decrease of 41.5% in ransomware attacks. The number of Phishing attacks still tends to be growing steadily to be an imminent threat on the rise especially due to an increase in Covid-19 related phishing attacks.