Australia prime target for banking malware

Australia was the fourth most targeted country for online banking malware during the third quarter, according to Trend Micro.

Trend Micro identified over 200,000 malware infections targeting online banking during the quarter, the security firm said in a new report. Australia was behind only the US, Brazil and Japan as the most popular targets for this form of malware.

“[But] despite being the fourth most targeted country, Australia accounted for only 3% of online banking malware infections worldwide,” Trend Micro ANZ Managing Director Sanjay Mehta said.

“This may be due to the high degree of multifactor authentication requirement for our local online banking transactions.”

Trend Micro’s Q3 Security Report also highlights a proliferation in the use of iOS phishing sites in Australia and New Zealand. The two nations combined were the third-highest region for hosting Apple-targeting phishing sites, accounting for 10.7% of sites blocked globally during the quarter.

Mehta said that while Apple has traditionally been viewed as a safe-haven against threats, “personal information can be jeopardised as phishing scams that target the platform continue to gain momentum”.

Android also remains a prime target for cybercriminals, with Trend Micro estimating that the number of malicious and high-risk apps targeting the platform hit the 1 million mark during the third quarter.

The report also finds that the number of command and control servers operating in Australia and New Zealand nearly doubled sequentially in the third quarter.

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