Kaspersky Lab counts up this year's cyber threats

Mobile threats:

"2011 was the year of mobile malware formation, especially on Android-based devices; 2012 was when they developed and 2013 was when they reached maturity. In 2014 mobile malware focused on financial issues: the number of mobile banking Trojans was nine times greater than in the previous year and development in this area is continuing at an alarming rate," said Roman Unuchek, Senior Mobile Malware Analyst at Kaspersky Lab.

Financial threats

The fraudsters who specialise in mobile financial malware are probably inspired by their experienced "colleagues" who have been stealing money via personal computers for years. Zeus remains the most widespread banking Trojan with ChePro and Lohmys coming second and third. Three quarters of attacks targeting users' money were carried out using banking malware but these are not the only financial threats. Bitcoin wallet theft was the second most popular banking threat (14%). Bitcoin mining software (10%) is another threat related to the crypto currency. It uses computing resources to generate bitcoins.

Maria Garnaeva, Security Expert at Kaspersky Lab's Global Research and Analysis Team, said: "One of the most effective ways to deliver malware to user computers is to exploit vulnerabilities in Oracle Java and in browsers such as Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, etc. In addition, cybercriminals continue to use exploits for Adobe Reader vulnerabilities. These infection techniques remain popular simply because social engineering techniques are still effective. Each year we see how cybercriminals are creating more inventive ways of luring in their victims. That is why recipients are still willing to read a seemingly harmless e-mail from an unexpected source and then open attachments or follow links that expose them to malicious programmes."

The full report is available on securelist.com