McAfee Labs Threats Report: Third Quarter 2013 has identified a new family of mobile malware that allows an attacker to bypass the digital signature validation of apps on Android devices, which contributed to a 30 percent increase in Android-based malware.
The report also noted new efforts to circumvent digital signature app validation on both PCs and Android-based devices. Traditional malware signed with digital signatures grew by 50 percent to more than 1.5 million samples.
There was also a 125 percent increase in spam, the report said.
“The efforts to bypass code validation on mobile devices, and commandeer it altogether on PCs, both represent attempts to circumvent trust mechanisms upon which our digital ecosystems rely,” said Vincent Weafer, senior vice president of McAfee Labs.
“The industry must work harder to ensure the integrity of these technologies given they are becoming more pervasive in every aspect of our daily lives,” Weafer added.
The third quarter also saw notable events in the use of Bitcoin for illicit activities such as the purchase of drugs, weapons, and other illegal goods on websites such as Silk Road. The growing presence of Bitcoin-mining malware reinforced the increasing popularity of the currency.
Digitally signed malware samples increased 50 percent, to more than 1.5 million new samples. McAfee Labs also revealed the top 50 certificates used to sign malicious payloads. This growing threat calls into question the validity of digital certificates as a trust mechanism.
McAfee Labs researchers identified one entirely new family of Android malware, Exploit/MasterKey.A, which allows an attacker to bypass the digital signature validation of apps, a key component of the Android security process.
McAfee Labs researchers also found a new class of Android malware that once installed downloads a second-stage payload without the user’s knowledge.
These transactions can be executed anonymously, drawing the interest of the cybercriminal community and allowing them to offer illicit goods and services for sale in transactions that would normally be transparent to law enforcement.
McAfee Labs also saw cybercriminals develop Bitcoin-mining malware to infect systems, mine their processing power, and produce Bitcoins for commercial transactions. Nearly 700,000 new Android malware samples appeared during the third quarter, as attacks on the mobile operating system increased by more than 30 percent.
Despite responsible new security measures by Google, McAfee Labs believes the largest mobile platform will continue to draw the most attention from hackers given it possesses the largest base of potential victims.
Spike in spam. Global spam volume increased 125 percent in the third quarter of 2013. McAfee Labs researchers believe much of this spike was driven by legitimate “affiliate” marketing firms purchasing and using mailing lists sourced from less than reputable sources.