Kaspersky's researchers have noticed an uptick in activity from fraudsters stealing passwords by using special malware called Trojan-PSW programs.
These are stealers that are able to gather login and other account information, including any personal data, from gaming Web sites and streaming accounts, for example, and even online banking.
Researchers from the security giant analysed data from January 2021 to September 2021, and compared it to data from the same period last year, looking to unpack the number of attacks and who the targets were.
And it seems there’s cause for concern, because during 2021, 29% more South African users were attacked than in the same period in 2020.
There is also growth globally in the number of users who were targeted during this time.
Kaspersky says there were approximately 160 000 more targets across the world in September than in April this year, an increase of 45%.
More recently, the company’s researchers say they have seen a steep increase in the number of attempts to infect users. Q3 2021 (July to September) saw an increase of almost 30%, and the total amount of detections also increased compared to the previous year, from 24.8 million to 25.5 million.
Denis Parinov, a security expert at Kaspersky, says statistics reveal that logins, passwords, payment details and other personal data continue to be an attractive target for criminals, and remain a popular commodity on the dark Web.
“For this reason, we encourage Internet users to take extra steps to protect their accounts,” he says.
One way of doing this, he adds, is by using multi-factor authentication methods. “Increased scammer activity using password stealers also suggests the need for users to be more careful, not to follow unverified links and to use an updated security solution.”