Because the cloned version of WhatsApp is not available on Google Play, research indicates that versions of the programme that are available for download from other websites are plagued with malware and lack security checks in comparison to the original WhatsApp.
In order to eavesdrop on users’ communications, India has the most duplicated WhatsApp versions. Report
India came in second place (35%) after China (53%) as the geolocation for bots.
Russia was another country that ransomware primarily targeted.
In New Delhi: A new report states that India is one of the countries with the largest amount of Android trojan detections, and that an unauthorised, third-party WhatsApp clone is leading the nation in terms of spying on users’ communications. An extensive amount of Android spyware detection in the previous four months was attributed, in accordance with a report by the cyber-security firm ESET, to “GB WhatsApp,” a well-known but cloned third-party version of WhatsApp.
These malicious programmes are capable of a variety of surveillance tasks, such as audio and video recording. Because the cloned version of WhatsApp is not available on Google Play, research indicates that versions of the programme that are available for download from other websites are plagued with malware and lack security checks in comparison to the original WhatsApp.
In terms of the geolocation of the bots that made up “Mozi,” the biggest internet of things (IoT) botnet, from May to August 2022, India (35%) placed in second position to China (53%) on the list. The number of bots in the IoT botnet “Mozi” dropped by 23% a month from 500,000 affected devices to 383,000 between May and August.
However, the majority of IoT bots that were geolocated inside of each of the two countries were still in China and India. According to the research, “these numbers corroborate the theory that the “Mozi” botnet is on autopilot, running without human supervision since its alleged author was arrested in 2021.”
Even though the number of RDP attacks was falling, Russian IP addresses remained the primary source of RDP attacks. Russia was also the country that was attacked by ransomware the most frequently, according to Roman Kovac, Chief Research Officer at ESET, with some of the attacks being driven by political or ideological motives associated with the conflict.
Threats mostly affecting users at home were also examined in the research. According to Kovac, the main threat to online shoppers’ credit card information is still a web skimmer by the name of Magecart. Regarding dangers specifically posing a risk to both real and digital currency.
