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Seattle, March 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WatchGuard® Technologies, a leader in advanced network security solutions, today issued its quarterly Internet Security Report for Q4 2018. It found that network attacks targeting a vulnerability in the Cisco Webex Chrome extension increased in popularity dramatically, rising to be the second-most common network attack after being almost nonexistent in early 2018. Phishing campaigns showed a dangerous increase in sophistication in Q4, with new attacks utilizing advanced methods such as threatening to release recordings of users visiting adult content online, customizing emails for specific targets and creating fake banking login web pages. Based on data from tens of thousands of active WatchGuard Firebox appliances around the world, the complete report examines the top malware and network attacks targeting midmarket businesses and distributed enterprises today.
“There was a noticeable increase in advanced phishing attacks targeting high-value information this quarter,” said Corey Nachreiner, CTO at WatchGuard Technologies. “Now more than ever, it’s vital for businesses to take the layered approach to security, and deploy solutions like WatchGuard’s DNSWatch that offer DNS-level filtering designed to detect and block potentially dangerous connections and automatically refer employees to resources that bolster phishing awareness and prevention. A combination of security controls and human training will help businesses avoid becoming hooked by phishing attacks.”
The insights, research and security best practices included in WatchGuard’s quarterly Internet Security Report help organizations of all sizes understand the current cyber security landscape and better protect themselves, their partners and customers from emerging security threats. The top takeaways from the Q4 2018 report include:
The Q4 ISR also includes a granular analysis of source code for the Exobot banking trojan. This highly sophisticated malware attempts to steal banking and financial information from Android devices. The WatchGuard Threat Lab’s analysis includes a list of the 150 sites such as Amazon, Facebook Paypal and Western Union that Exobot can automatically target, as well as a detailed look at the UI an attacker using Exobot would use to push commands to infected devices.
These finding are based on anonymized Firebox Feed data from over 42,000 active WatchGuard UTM appliances worldwide. In total, these Fireboxes blocked over 16 million malware variants (382 per device) and approximately 1,244,000 network attacks (29 per device) in Q4 2018.
For more information, download the full report here. To access live, real-time threat insights by type, region and date, visit WatchGuard’s Threat Landscape data visualization tool today. Subscribe to The 443 – Security Simplified podcast at Secplicity.org, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
About WatchGuard Technologies, Inc.
WatchGuard® Technologies, Inc. is a global leader in network security, secure Wi-Fi, multi-factor authentication, and network intelligence. The company’s award-winning products and services are trusted around the world by nearly 10,000 security resellers and service providers to protect more than 80,000 customers. WatchGuard’s mission is to make enterprise-grade security accessible to companies of all types and sizes through simplicity, making WatchGuard an ideal solution for distributed enterprises and SMBs. The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with offices throughout North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. To learn more, visit WatchGuard.com.
For additional information, promotions and updates, follow WatchGuard on Twitter, @WatchGuard on Facebook, or on the LinkedIn Company page. Also, visit our InfoSec blog, Secplicity, for real-time information about the latest threats and how to cope with them at www.secplicity.org.
Chris Warfield WatchGuard Technologies 8007349905 chris.warfield@watchguard.com Anthony Cogswell Voxus PR for WatchGuard Technologies 2534445980 ajcogswell@voxuspr.com