Chennai: Chennai has recorded over eight million malware threats targeted to consumers in 2020, revealed Quick Heal in its latest threat report.
It said, Chennai witnessed new trends with the advent of social engineering techniques tricking users into opening infected files and links through fake Covid-19 information. For instance, threat actors launched fake versions of ‘AarogyaSetu App’ to attempt infiltration. Some of them also tried to target users by offering free data, subscriptions to OTT platforms, fake Covid-19 medicines and job offers, among others.
The report further highlighted that Trojan was the highest detected malware in Chennai, followed by Infector, Worm, and Potentially Unwanted Applications (PUA). However, ransomware continued its dominance as the most dangerous threat with the dual ability to encrypt user data and sell it on the dark web to make financial gains.
“The most common technique adopted by attackers is social engineering wherein they use psychological manipulation to lure users into clicking on suspicious links. Once a user clicks on the link, it opens up an avenue for the attacker to enter into their device,” says Himanshu Dubey, director, Quick Heal Total Security.
“Besides, people should follow basic security measures such as avoiding internet banking while using public Wi-Fi, using strong passwords, enabling multi-factor authentication and changing passwords frequently”.