Buried on page 5 - Ten bad guys we've seen before.
Not every malware threat makes the 5 o'clock news headlines or basks in the glory of front-page exposure. In fact, most threats don't even make news. When they do, however, it's dramatic.
Headlines gobbled up by the latest affront to our collective cybersecurity. Viruses, trojans, worms, malvertising and of course ransomware holding data hostage for bitcoins. Luckily for us the good guys are out there doing their best to mitigate against the threats. And, when something strikes with the force, the pomp and circumstance of the likes of WannaCry, there’s usually plenty of attention devoted to killing it.
The shelf life of high profile malware is usually pretty short due to the amount of attention it receives, but for every malware variant that dies due to its success and overexposure, a myriad fall through the cracks and remain undetected.
More than likely, you’ve heard of some, if not all, of the malware titles on this list—titles that have been around for a while, thriving through various reincarnations thanks to the tricks of hackers tweaking malicious code.
Please make sure that you are protected against threats and remain diligent when online regardless of your device.
Hummingbad
It is estimated that 85,000,000 (yes million) phones are infected by Hummingbad in 2018! If I had a nickel for every...
Hummingbad is a form of Android malware that installs a rootkit followed by fake apps. It also generates fraudulent ad revenue, and to the tune of over $300,000 a month at its peak!
In 2016 Hummingbad managed to infect more than 10 million Android devices. While it is believed that its infection rate has slowed since then, it's still an active attacker, recently being found in fake apps, and more than 20 other apps in Google Play store and third-party installers.
RoughTed
RoughTed is a little different than the other titles on this list. It isn't malware that gets installed on your system directly—rather it’s a phenomenon called malvertising that operates from a variety of domains with the ultimate goal of getting you to click on a link that executes malicious code.
Malvertising targets everyone regardless of your device or operating system. Windows, as well as MacOS users are all subject to damage from false ads. RoughTed domains have been seen installing malware, ransomware, exploit kits, and other types of dangerous code.