July 2020’s Most Wanted Malware: Emotet Strikes Again After Five-Month Absence

Rhea-AI Summary

Check Point Research has released its Global Threat Index for July 2020, revealing that Emotet has returned to the top spot, impacting 5% of organizations globally after a five-month dormancy. Emotet’s resurgence involves spreading malspam campaigns that infect victims with TrickBot and Qbot. Additionally, the report highlighted the most common exploited vulnerabilities, with MVPower DVR Remote Code Execution affecting 44% of organizations, followed by OpenSSL vulnerabilities impacting 42%. The report emphasizes the importance of cyber education and deploying anti-malware solutions to mitigate risks.

Positive

• Emotet's rise indicates a significant engagement with cybersecurity threats, reflecting on Check Point's relevance in threat intelligence.
• The report underscores the importance of proactive cybersecurity measures, which may lead to increased demand for Check Point's products.

Negative

• The resurgence of Emotet may heighten security concerns among organizations, potentially leading to increased expenses for cybersecurity solutions.
• Vulnerabilities such as MVPower DVR Remote Code Execution could compromise client trust, impacting future sales.

SAN CARLOS, Calif., Aug. 07, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Check Point Research, the Threat Intelligence arm of Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP), a leading provider of cyber security solutions globally, has published its latest Global Threat Index for July 2020.  Researchers found that after a five-month absence, Emotet has surged back to 1^st place in the Index, impacting 5% of organizations globally. 

Since February 2020, Emotet’s activities – primarily sending waves of malspam campaigns – started to slow down and eventually stopped, until re-emerging in July. This pattern was observed in 2019 when the Emotet botnet ceased activity during the summer months but resumed in September.

In July, Emotet was spreading malspam campaigns, infecting its victims with TrickBot and Qbot, which are used to steal banking credentials and spread inside networks. Some of the malspam campaigns contained malicious doc file with names like “form.doc” or “invoice.doc”. According to researchers, the malicious document launches a PowerShell to pull the Emotet binary from remote websites and infect machines, adding them to the botnet. The resumption of Emotet’s activities highlights the scale and power of the botnet globally. 

“It’s interesting that Emotet was dormant for several months earlier this year, repeating a pattern we first observed in 2019.  We can assume that the developers behind the botnet were updating its features and capabilities. But as it is active again, organizations should educate employees about how to identify the types of malspam that carry these threats and warn about the risks of opening email attachments or clicking on links from external sources. Businesses should also look at deploying anti-malware solutions that can prevent such content reaching end-users,” said Maya Horowitz, Director, Threat Intelligence & Research, Products at Check Point.

The research team also warns that “MVPower DVR Remote Code Execution” is the most common exploited vulnerability, impacting 44% of organizations globally, followed by “OpenSSL TLS DTLS Heartbeat Information Disclosure” which impacts 42% of organizations worldwide. “Command Injection Over HTTP Payload” is in third place, with a global impact of 38%.

Top malware families
*The arrows relate to the change in rank compared to the previous month.

This month Emotet is the most popular malware with a global impact of 5% of organizations, closely followed by Dridex and Agent Tesla affecting 4% of organizations each.

1. ↑ Emotet – Emotet is an advanced, self-propagating and modular Trojan. Emotet was originally a banking Trojan, but recently is used as a distributor of other malware or malicious campaigns. It uses multiple methods for maintaining persistence and evasion techniques to avoid detection. In addition, it can be spread through phishing spam emails containing malicious attachments or links.
    
2. ↑ Dridex – Dridex is a Trojan that targets the Windows platform and is reportedly downloaded via a spam email attachment. Dridex contacts a remote server and sends information about the infected system. It can also download and execute arbitrary modules received from the remote server.
    
3. ↓ Agent Tesla – Agent Tesla is an advanced RAT functioning as a keylogger and information stealer capable of monitoring and collecting the victim's keyboard input, system clipboard, taking screenshots, and exfiltrating credentials belonging to of a variety of software installed on a victim's machine (including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Outlook email client).

Top exploited vulnerabilities

This month “MVPower DVR Remote Code Execution” is the most common exploited vulnerability, impacting 44% of organizations globally, followed by “OpenSSL TLS DTLS Heartbeat Information Disclosure” which impacts 42% of organizations worldwide. “Command Injection Over HTTP Payload” is in third place, with a global impact of 38%.

1. ↑ MVPower DVR Remote Code Execution – A remote code execution vulnerability that exists in MVPower DVR devices. A remote attacker can exploit this weakness to execute arbitrary code in the affected router via a crafted request.
    
2. ↓ OpenSSL TLS DTLS Heartbeat Information Disclosure (CVE-2014-0160; CVE-2014-0346) – An information disclosure vulnerability that exists in OpenSSL. The vulnerability is due to an error when handling TLS/DTLS heartbeat packets. An attacker can leverage this vulnerability to disclose memory contents of a connected client or server.
   
   
3. ↑ Command Injection Over HTTP Payload – A command injection over HTTP payload vulnerability has been reported. A remote attacker can exploit this issue by sending a specially crafted request to the victim. Successful exploitation would allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the target machine.

Top mobile malware families

This month xHelper is the most popular malware, followed by Necro and PreAMo.

1. xHelper – A malicious application seen in the wild since March 2019, used for downloading other malicious apps and display advertisements. The application can hide itself from the user, and reinstall itself in case it was uninstalled.
    
2. Necro – Necro is an Android Trojan Dropper. It can download other malware, showing intrusive ads and stealing money by charging paid subscriptions.
    
3. PreAMo – PreAmo is an Android Malware imitates the user by clicking on banners retrieved from three ad agencies – Presage, Admob, and Mopub.

Check Point’s Global Threat Impact Index and its ThreatCloud Map is powered by Check Point’s ThreatCloud intelligence, the largest collaborative network to fight cybercrime which delivers threat data and attack trends from a global network of threat sensors. The ThreatCloud database inspects over 2.5 billion websites and 500 million files daily, and identifies more than 250 million malware activities every day.

The complete list of the top 10 malware families in July can be found on the Check Point Blog.

Follow Check Point Research via:
Blog: https://research.checkpoint.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/_cpresearch_

About Check Point Research
Check Point Research provides leading cyber threat intelligence to Check Point Software customers and the greater intelligence community. The research team collects and analyzes global cyber-attack data stored on ThreatCloud to keep hackers at bay, while ensuring all Check Point products are updated with the latest protections. The research team consists of over 100 analysts and researchers cooperating with other security vendors, law enforcement and various CERTs.

About Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (www.checkpoint.com) is a leading provider of cyber security solutions to governments and corporate enterprises globally.  Check Point’s solutions protect customers from 5^th generation cyber-attacks with an industry leading catch rate of malware, ransomware and advanced targeted threats. Check Point offers a multilevel security architecture, “Infinity Total Protection with Gen V advanced threat prevention”, this combined product architecture defends an enterprises’ cloud, network and mobile devices. Check Point provides the most comprehensive and intuitive one point of control security management system. Check Point protects over 100,000 organizations of all sizes.

MEDIA CONTACT:		INVESTOR CONTACT:
Emilie Beneitez Lefebvre		Kip E. Meintzer
Check Point Software Technologies		Check Point Software Technologies
press@checkpoint.com		ir@us.checkpoint.com

FAQ

What does the July 2020 Global Threat Index report by Check Point reveal about malware?

The report shows that Emotet has risen to the top of the Global Threat Index, affecting 5% of organizations.

How did Emotet re-emerge after five months according to Check Point's report?

Emotet resumed activity in July 2020, spreading malspam campaigns that infect victims.

What are the top exploited vulnerabilities reported by Check Point in July 2020?

The top vulnerabilities include MVPower DVR Remote Code Execution impacting 44% of organizations and OpenSSL vulnerabilities affecting 42%.

What should organizations do to mitigate the risks highlighted in the Global Threat Index?

Organizations should educate employees on identifying malspam and consider deploying anti-malware solutions.

How does Emotet operate according to Check Point's findings?

Emotet spreads through phishing spam emails, using malicious document attachments to infect systems.