Finding Parallels: 2019 witnessed the start of banking Trojan outbreak in APAC, says Kaspersky expert

KUALA LUMPUR, 18 OCTOBER 2021 – It is a common knowledge that the current health crisis, first detected in December of 2019, has drastically changed multiple aspects of human lives globally and in Asia Pacific (APAC). One of its most evident aftermaths is the significant uptick of digital payment adoption in the region.

Several reports have already put the numbers to prove this trend, but how about its tangible effects on the cybersecurity landscape of the financial sector?

After analysing the historical data from Kaspersky Security Network’s (KSN), Vitaly Kamluk, Director of Global Research & Analysis Team (GReAT) for APAC at Kaspersky, discovered that the increased cashless payments in APAC has paralleled the rise of banking Trojans in the region.

“Even before COVID-19, Asia Pacific has always been one of the leaders in digital payment adoption, driven by developed countries like China, Japan, South Korea and even India. This pandemic extended the use of this technology significantly further – particularly in still emerging economies in Southeast Asia and South Asia. As we all know, the lockdown restrictions forced everyone to shift their financial transactions online. But, now, after analysing the historical figures we have on financial threats, I also learned that there was another outbreak that started in early 2019 in APAC – banking Trojans,” says Kamluk.

Banking Trojans are one of the most dangerous species in the malware world. To put it simply, they are used to steal money from users’ bank accounts.

The goal of this malware is either to obtain access credentials or one time passwords to online bank accounts or to manipulate the user and hijack control for the live online banking session from the legitimate owner.

Due to the uptick of online payment usage and the still-needing-improvement consumer attitudes towards protecting their devices, banking Trojan is among the most impactful malware for home users.