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November's Most Wanted Malware: Return of Necurs Botnet Brings New Ransomware ThreatSAN CARLOS, Calif., Dec. 12, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP), a leading provider of cyber-security solutions globally, has revealed that the Necurs botnet has returned to the top ten most prevalent malware during November 2017, as cyber-criminals used it to distribute a new form of ransomware, according to the company’s latest Global Threat Impact Index. Check Point researchers found that hackers were using Necurs, considered to be the largest spam botnet in the world, to distribute the relatively new Scarab ransomware that was first seen in June 2017. The Necurs botnet started mass distribution of Scarab during the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, sending over 12 million emails in a single morning. Necurs has previously been used to distribute some of the most insidious malware variants to hit business networks in the past 12 months, including the Locky and Globeimposter families. Maya Horowitz, Threat Intelligence, Group Manager at Check Point at Check Point commented: “The re-emergence of the Necurs botnet highlights how malware that may seem to be fading away doesn’t always disappear or become any less of a threat. Despite Necurs being well known to the security community, hackers are still enjoying lots of success distributing malware with this highly effective infection vehicle”. This reinforces the need for advanced threat prevention technologies and a multi-layered cybersecurity strategy that protects against both previously encountered, established malware families as well as brand new, zero-day threats. As in October, RoughTed, a large scale malvertising campaign, remained the most prevalent threat, ahead of the Rig ek exploit kit in second, and Cornficker, a worm that allows remote download of malware in third. November 2017’s Top 3 ‘Most Wanted’ Malware:
November’s Top 3 ‘Most Wanted’ mobile malware:
Check Point’s Global Threat Impact Index and its ThreatCloud Map is powered by Check Point’s ThreatCloud intelligence, the largest collaborative network to fight cybercrime which delivers threat data and attack trends from a global network of threat sensors. The ThreatCloud database holds over 250 million addresses analyzed for bot discovery, more than 11 million malware signatures and over 5.5 million infected websites, and identifies millions of malware types daily. * The complete list of the top 10 malware families in November can be found on the Check Point Blog Check Point’s Threat Prevention Resources are available at: http://www.checkpoint.com/threat-prevention-resources/index.html Follow Check Point via: About Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. INVESTOR CONTACT: MEDIA CONTACT: |