Kaspersky Finds More Than 33 Million Attacks On Mobile Devices In 2023

Malware illustration on mobile devices (photo: Kaspersky)

JAKARTA - Along with the development of technology, cyber attacks launched by cybercriminals are also increasingly massive, especially for mobile devices.

Based on Kaspersky's annual analysis, company experts see a marked upward trend in attacks targeting mobile devices.

In 2023 alone, the number of similar attacks jumped to 33,790,599. This is a significant increase of almost 52 percent, compared to 22,255,956 attacks recorded in the previous year.

Kaspersky mentions that the most common threat to mobile devices is adware, a type of software that displays unwanted pop-up ads (and sometimes annoying), which cover 40.8 percent of all detected threats.

As for banking Trojans, the number of installation packages for the malware fell to 153,682 after experiencing a sharp increase last year when the figure doubled.

However, at the same time, cybersecurity experts saw the number of attacks using mobile banks remaining at the relatively same level.

Cybercriminals often distribute mobile threats through official and unofficial app stores. In 2023, Kaspersky experts observed many malicious apps infiltrate Google Play.

One of the most common disguises in 2023 is a fake investment app that relies on social engineering tactics to extract personal data from users, especially phone numbers and full names, and then add to the database used for phone fraud.

According to Anton Kivva, a mobile security expert at Kaspersky, the surge in Android malware and riskware activity throughout 2023 marks a worrying change after a relatively calm period.

This increase underscores the significant threats facing users. This is a reminder of the importance of staying vigilant and implementing strong security measures to protect oneself from the growing threat of cyberspace," he added.