Mobile Threat Report 2022 – Kaspersky

In the year 2022, Mobile malware developers seemed to doubled the number of banking trojans in the cybercrime landscape – revealed Kaspersky’s Mobile Threats in 2022 report.

The report provides an analysis of the trends and patterns of mobile malware and the potential risks to mobile devices and their users.

Almost 200,000 new mobile banking trojans, released in the year 2022, have a 100% increase from the previous year and represent the largest upswing in mobile malware development observed in the last six years.

Nearly 1.6 million mobile malware installers were detected. Despite the surge in malware creation, this actually represents a decline in threat activity, as the number of installers detected was lower than the figures for 2021 (3.5 million) and 2020 (5.7 million).

China was the most affected by mobile malware at 17.70%, followed by Syria (15.61%) and Iran (14.53%).

This significant increase indicates that cybercriminals are focusing more on stealing financial data from mobile users and investing in creating new malware. 

Legitimate channels, like official marketplaces and ads in popular apps, are increasingly becoming a means for the spread of both scam apps and dangerous mobile banking malware.

In recent times, threat actors had created over 50 fake and malicious apps impersonating ChatGPT. These apps spread various malware, including  spyware, adware, and a Spynote strain.

The bottom line is that malware attacks on mobile devices are becoming more sophisticated and diverse. Hence, it is recommended to follow basic smartphone cyber hygiene and avoid downloading apps from untrusted or third-party sources.