symantec intelligence report december 2014

SYMANTEC INTELLIGENCE REPORTDECEMBER 2014

p. 2

Symantec CorporationSymantec Intelligence Report :: DECEMBER 2014

CONTENTS

3 Summary

4 TARGETED ATTACKS + DATA BREACHES

5 Targeted Attacks

5 Attachments Used in Spear-Phishing Emails

5 Spear-Phishing Attacks by Size of Targeted Organization

5 Average Number of Spear-Phishing Attacks Per Day

6 Top-Ten Industries Targeted in Spear-Phishing Attacks

7 Data Breaches

7 Timeline of Data Breaches

8 Top-Ten Types of Information Breached

9 MALWARE TACTICS

10 Malware Tactics

10 Top-Ten Malware

10 Top-Ten Mac OSX Malware Blocked on OSX Endpoints

11 Ransomware Over Time

12 Vulnerabilities

12 Number of Vulnerabilities

12 Zero-Day Vulnerabilities

13 Browser Vulnerabilities

13 Plug-in Vulnerabilities

14 MOBILE THREATS

15 Mobile

15 Mobile Malware Families by Month, Android

16 PHISHING, SPAM + EMAIL THREATS

17 Phishing and Spam

17 Phishing Rate

17 Global Spam Rate

18 Email Threats

18 Proportion of Email Traffic Containing URL Malware

18 Proportion of Email Traffic in Which Virus Was Detected

19 About Symantec

19 More Information

p. 3


Summary

Welcome to the December edition of the Symantec Intelligence report. Symantec Intelligence aims to provide the latest analysis of cyber security threats, trends, and insights concerning malware, spam, and other potentially harmful business risks.

Symantec has established the most comprehensive source of Internet threat data in the world through the Symantec™ Global Intelligence Network, which is made up of more than 41.5 million attack sensors and records thousands of events per second. This network monitors threat activity in over 157 countries and territories through a combination of Symantec products and services such as Symantec DeepSight™ Threat Management System, Symantec™ Managed Security Services, Norton™ consumer products, and other third-party data sources.

This month’s report takes us through December with a number of rolling 12-month metrics that we’ve tracked over the last year. However, it’s important to point out that this is a snapshot of monthly data for December, as opposed to a year-end summary of activity in 2014. We will be exploring 2014 as a whole in the upcoming Internet Security Threat Report XX, scheduled for publication in the coming months.

In December there were eight data breaches reported that took place within the month of December. This number is likely to rise as more data breaches that occurred during the month are reported in the future. For instance, there were 14 new data breaches reported during December that took place between January and November.

The most commonly encountered malware in December was Trojan.Swifi. This threat is a Trojan horse that may be down-loaded from a Web site and exploits a vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player.

A new zero-day vulnerability was also disclosed during the month of December. The Adobe Flash Player CVE-2014-9163 Stack Based Buffer Overflow Vulnerability may allow attackers to execute arbitrary code within the context of the affected application or result in denial-of-service conditions if the exploit fails.

We hope that you enjoy this month’s report and feel free to contact us with any comments or feedback.

Ben Nahorney, Cyber Security Threat Analyst [email protected]

http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2009-072317-0730-99

http://www.symantec.com/security_response/vulnerability.jsp?bid=71582

http://www.symantec.com/security_response/vulnerability.jsp?bid=71582

mailto:symantec_intelligence%40symantec.com?subject=

p. 4


TAR

GETED

ATTACKS

+ DATA

BR

EACHES

p. 5


At a Glance

• The average number of spear-phishing attacks dropped to 33 per day in December, down from 43 in November.

• The .doc file type was the most common attachment type used in spear-phishing attacks. The .exe file type came in second.

• Organizations with 2500+ employees were the most likely to be targeted in December.

• Manufacturing lead the Top-Ten Industries targeted, followed by Finance, Insur-ance, & Real Estate.

Targeted Attacks

Average Number of Spear-PhishingAttacks Per DaySource: Symantec :: JANUARY 2014 — DECEMBER 2014

25

50

75

100

125

150

175

200

225

250

DNOSAJJMAMFJ

2014

54 53 45 43

2033

141

84 84

54

88

165

Attachments Used in Spear-Phishing Emails

Source: Symantec :: DECEMBER 2014

Executable type December November

.doc 26.7% 25.9%

.exe 15.7% 16.4%

.au3 8.2% 8.6%

.scr 5.0% 5.3%

.jpg 4.6% 4.8%

.class 3.4% 2.2%

.pdf 1.6% 1.6%

.bin 1.5% 1.6%

.txt 1.4% 1.3%

.dmp 1.0% 1.0%

Spear-Phishing Attacks by Size of Targeted OrganizationSource: Symantec :: DECEMBER 2014

Organization Size December November

1-250 31.5% 34.4%

251-500 11.5% 8.4%

501-1000 6.6% 8.8%

1001-1500 3.5% 3.2%

1501-2500 9.3% 4.5%

2500+ 37.6% 40.7%

p. 6


Top-Ten Industries Targeted in Spear-Phishing AttacksSource: Symantec :: DECEMBER 2014

Consulting

Construction

Public Administration

Retail

Transportation, Communications, & Electric

Services - Non Traditional

Services - Professional

Wholesale

Finance, Insurance, & Real Estate

Manufacturing 27%

24 13 12

11 4

2 1 1 1

p. 7


Data Breaches

At a Glance

• There were eight data breaches reported this month that took place during the month of December. This number is likely to rise as more data breaches that occurred during the month are reported.

• In comparison, there were 14 new data breaches reported during December that took place between January and November.

• Real names, government ID numbers, such as Social Security numbers, and home addresses are currently the top three types of data exposed in data breaches.

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

DNOSAJJMAMFJ2014

NU

MB

ER O

F IN

CID

ENTS

IDEN

TITI

ES E

XPO

SED

(MIL

LIO

NS)

INCIDENTS IDENTITIES EXPOSED (Millions)

Timeline of Data BreachesSource: Symantec :: JANUARY 2014 — DECEMBER 2014

147

59

1

78

31.5

101

6.4.051.72.68.1

24

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

3027

2527

2220 19 19

2018

8

21

p. 8


Top-Ten Types of Information BreachedSource: Symantec :: JANUARY 2014 — DECEMBER 2014

Real Names

Gov ID numbers (Soc Sec)

Home Address

Birth Dates

Financial Information

Medical Records

Email Addresses

Phone Numbers

Usernames & Passwords

Insurance

01

02

03

04

05

06

07

08

09

10

66%

45%

43%

36%

36%

24%

21%

20%

16%

10%

MethodologyThis data is procured from the Norton Cybercrime Index (CCI). The Norton CCI is a statistical model that measures the levels of threats, including malicious software, fraud, identity theft, spam, phishing, and social engineering daily. The data breach section of the Norton CCI is derived from data breaches that have been reported by legitimate media sources and have exposed personal information.

In some cases a data breach is not publicly reported during the same month the incident occurred, or an adjustment is made in the number of identities reportedly exposed. In these cases, the data in the Norton CCI is updated. This causes fluctuations in the numbers reported for previous months when a new report is released.

p. 9


MA

LWA

RE TAC

TICS

p. 10


Malware Tactics

At a Glance

• Trojan.Swifi was the most common malware blocked in December, up from tenth place in November.

• W32.Ramnit variants continue to dominate the top-ten malware list.

• The most common OSX threat seen on OSX was OSX.Keylogger, making up 16.3 percent of all OSX malware found on OSX Endpoints.

• The amount of ransom-ware seen during December increased when compared to previ-ous months. Overall ransomware activity has remained low since March of this year.

Top-Ten MalwareSource: Symantec :: DECEMBER 2014

Rank Name December November

1 Trojan.Swifi 7.0% 1.4%

2 W32.Almanahe.B!inf 5.2% 4.5%

3 W32.Ramnit!html 5.1% 4.4%

4 W32.Sality.AE 5.0% 4.8%

5 W32.Ramnit.B 3.7% 2.7%

6 W32.Downadup.B 2.4% 3.0%

7 W32.Ramnit.B!inf 2.3% 2.3%

8 W32.Virut.CF 1.7% 1.5%

9 W32.SillyFDC.BDP!lnk 1.6% 1.6%

10 W32.SillyFDC 1.1% 1.4%

Top-Ten Mac OSX Malware Blocked on OSX EndpointsSource: Symantec :: DECEMBER 2014

Rank Malware Name December November

1 OSX.Keylogger 16.3% 11.8%

2 OSX.Wirelurker 13.6% –

3 OSX.Okaz 11.2% 13.4%

4 OSX.RSPlug.A 10.1% 11.0%

5 OSX.Luaddit 9.3% –

6 OSX.Klog.A 7.6% 8.4%

7 OSX.Flashback.K 6.3% 15.7%

8 OSX.Stealbit.B 4.1% 7.6%

9 OSX.Freezer 2.7% –

10 OSX.Netweird 2.2% 3.7%

p. 11


Ransomware Over TimeSource: Symantec :: JANURARY 2014 — DECEMBER 2014

THO

USA

ND

S

100

200

300

400

500

600

DNOSAJJMAMFJ

2014

468

365

518

349

236 230183

149

95 78 77116

p. 12


Number of VulnerabilitiesSource: Symantec :: JANUARY 2014 — DECEMBER 2014

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

DNOSAJJMAMFJ2014

438

575 600 596

457428399

542 562 579

473

555

Zero-Day VulnerabilitiesSource: Symantec :: JANUARY 2014 — NOVEMBER 2014

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

DNOSAJJMAMFJ2014

0 0 0 0 0

1

2

0

5

0

1

4

Vulnerabilities

At a Glance

• There were 428 vulner-abilities disclosed during the month of December.

• There was one zero-day vulnerability disclosed during December (CVE-2014-9163).

• Internet Explorer has reported the most brows-er vulnerabilities during the month of December.

• Adobe, reporting on Acro-bat and Flash programs, disclosed the most plug-in vulnerabilities over the same time period.

p. 13


Browser VulnerabilitiesSource: Symantec :: JANUARY 2014 — DECEMBER 2014

20

40

60

80

100

DNOSAJJMAMFJ2014

Opera

Mozilla Firefox

Microsoft Internet Explorer

Google Chrome

Apple Safari

Plug-in VulnerabilitiesSource: Symantec :: JANUARY 2014 — DECEMBER 2014

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80Java

Apple

Adobe

ActiveX

DNOSAJJMAMFJ2014

p. 14


MO

BILE TH

REATS

p. 15


Mobile

Mobile Malware Families by Month, AndroidSource: Symantec :: JANUARY 2014 — DECEMBER 2014

8

6

2

4

2 2

3

5

3

4 4

3

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

DNOSAJJMAMFJ2014

At a Glance

• There were six Android malware families discov-ered in December.

p. 16


PHISH

ING

, SPAM

+ EMA

IL THR

EATS

p. 17


Phishing and Spam

Phishing RateSource: Symantec :: JANUARY 2014 — DECEMBER 2014

1 in 0

1 in 500

1 in 1000

1 in 1500

1 in 2000

1 in 2500DNOSAJJMAMFJ

2014

2041

1610

647

1517

401 478

370

731

395496

1290

1587

At a Glance

• The phishing rate dropped in December, at one in 1,517 emails, down from one in 647 emails in December.

• The global spam rate was 55.3 percent for the month of December.

• One out of every 195 emails contained a virus.

• Of the email traffic in the month of December, 14 percent contained a mali-cious URL.

Global Spam RateSource: Symantec :: JANUARY 2014 — DECEMBER 2014

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100%

DNOSAJJMAMFJ2014

55 5562 62

66

59

61 6064 63

58 55

p. 18


Email Threats

Proportion of Email Traffic Containing URL MalwareSource: Symantec :: JANUARY 2014 — DECEMBER 2014

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100%

DNOSAJJMAMFJ2014

6 7

41

1416 146 3

147 8

3

1 in 50

1 in 100

1 in 150

1 in 200

1 in 250

1 in 300

1 in 350

1 in 400

1 in 450

1 in 500DNOSAJJMAMFJ

2014

Proportion of Email Traffic in Which Virus Was DetectedSource: Symantec :: JANUARY 2014 — DECEMBER 2014

351

329

246

195

207188

141

234

183

232

351

270

p. 19


About Symantec

More Information

• Symantec Worldwide: http://www.symantec.com/

• ISTR and Symantec Intelligence Resources: http://www.symantec.com/threatreport/

• Symantec Security Response: http://www.symantec.com/security_response/

• Norton Threat Explorer: http://us.norton.com/security_response/threatexplorer/

• Norton Cybercrime Index: http://us.norton.com/cybercrimeindex/

Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC) is an information protection expert that helps people, businesses and governments seeking the freedom to unlock the opportunities technology brings – anytime, anywhere. Founded in April 1982, Symantec, a Fortune 500 company, operating one of the largest global data-intelligence networks, has provided leading security, backup and availability solutions for where vital information is stored, accessed and shared. The company’s more than 20,000 employees reside in more than 50 countries. Ninety-nine percent of Fortune 500 companies are Symantec customers. In fiscal 2013, it recorded revenues of $6.9 billion. To learn more go to www.symantec.com or connect with Symantec at: go.symantec.com/socialmedia.

http://www.symantec.com/

http://www.symantec.com/threatreport/

http://www.symantec.com/security_response/

http://us.norton.com/security_response/threatexplorer/

http://us.norton.com/cybercrimeindex/

www.symantec.com

go.symantec.com/socialmedia

For specific country offices and contact numbers,

please visit our website.

For product information in the U.S.,

call toll-free 1 (800) 745 6054.

Symantec Corporation World Headquarters

350 Ellis Street

Mountain View, CA 94043 USA

+1 (650) 527 8000

1 (800) 721 3934

www.symantec.com

Copyright © 2014 Symantec Corporation. All rights reserved. Symantec, the Symantec Logo, and the Checkmark Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Symantec Corporation or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners

www.symantec.com

symantec intelligence report december 2014

Business

new data breaches

months report

android16 phishing

thirdparty data sources

snapshot of monthly

encountered malware

mac osx malware

month metrics