(Newswire.net — October 16, 2018) — You can hear talks about security literally on every corner, yet lots of internet users still ignore the importance of antiviruses.
We all know how important it is to defend your devices from malicious attacks. It seems like we have viruses forever now. So why do we keep ignoring the need to install at least a basic protection on our PC, laptop or mobile device? Sure, new viruses will always be a threat until providers of antivirus software teach their systems to detect this malware and eliminate it. But statistics show that even old kinds of viruses damage devices today.
Netrica Consulting – a risk and integrity management firm – has conducted a survey that has shown that only 18 percent of companies with a team bigger than 25 members have IT employees that take care of security. And 21 percent of firms don’t bother themselves with creating a dedicated team of specialists.
And this tendency keeps going, even though 62 percent of businesses experience issues with viruses (7 percent), malware (10 percent), phishing (19 percent), and ransomware (26 percent). Numbers are quite high, aren’t they? So why internet users continue ignoring the fact that they need antiviruses?
Most spread cyber threats in 2018
Since it is almost the end of 2018, we can look back and see which viruses have affected unprotected systems the most. There are six most popular threats, and we will discuss every single one separately.
Gandcrab Ransomware
This malware gets to users’ computers through malicious advertisements, specific sites, and spam. The link that contains this virus usually leads to Rig Exploit Kit Page or GrandSoft EK page. When the user enters one of these sites, Gandcrab becomes active and gathers various data. Once it gathers enough information, it starts killing all processes and encrypting files.
Trojan Glupteba
This threat comes in different variations that make it even harder to detect. Trojan gets to the system through a file that somehow appeared on the hard drive. The virus looks like a service that starts processes. It makes those processes appear like legit ones. This Trojan collects the user data and diverts the traffic to different unknown domains.
Kuik Adware
One of the most spread viruses looks like an Adobe Flash Player update and is hard to detect. It has three modules that appear to be flash player itself, certificate and some file that is called “upp.exe”. Once this adware is in the system, it adds a new DNS and starts collecting user data. Then it starts performing different malicious actions within the system based on the gathered information. It might mine coins, add some extensions to browsers and so on.
Magniber Ransomware
It is a relatively new virus that is extremely spread in Asia. It gets to the system through malicious advertisements or infected sites. Even though these ways of getting your system damaged by a virus are old, they surprisingly still work. Once Magniber is on the hard drive, it encrypts files.
Thanatos Ransomware
One more new malware that gets into the system through ads, spam emails and so on. It encrypts the data as well as the previous virus. And encrypted files are complicated to decrypt because the keys generated by Thanatos are different every time and they are not stored anywhere.
Zeus Panda
This virus is also called a Trojan Panda Banker, and it is very similar to the famous Zeus banking malware. It gets to the user’s system through websites and gathers the banking information.
How to protect your system?
No one wants to face issues created by malware. And as you can see, these problems can be rather significant – take the banking data theft, for instance. Without decent antivirus software, you will risk losing not only your sensitive information stored on your hard drive but also your money. Whether you need the best antivirus for Android tablet or the best antimalware solution for Mac, it is important to get the software that would be the best value for money. Avlab tests results can help you make a choice.
Avlab – the company that holds independent antivirus tests – performed the research to find the best antiviruses that can offer a decent level of security for your devices. It has tested the most popular software. Results have shown that pretty much all solutions can provide the user with good protection. But Avlab admits that no antivirus will give you a 100% guarantee that no viruses will get into your system. So the company advises using some additional mechanisms or modules that can restore encrypted files affected by malware. Because if your system gets infected, you’d want to save the information you keep on your hard drive.
In conclusion, personal computers, laptops, and mobile devices should be protected at least with some basic antivirus software that will monitor the system on the background and keep viruses away. But if you are a business owner, you should look for an advanced solution that will protect computers, servers, and other devices that are used by employees. Also, it makes sense to hire security specialists that will guard your sensitive data and enhance the protection.