The overall malware attack on Apple Mac systems decreased by 38% worldwide while spyware attacks on Windows systems increased dramatically as per the 2021 State of Malware Report by antivirus solution provider Malwarebytes.
“Overall Mac detections decreased by 38%, though Mac detections for businesses increased 31%. Malware accounted for just 1.5% of all Mac detections in 2020—the rest can be attributed to Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs) and Adware,” said the report.
As for Windows systems, Malwarebytes in its report said that malware detections on Windows business computers decreased by 24% overall, but detections for HackTools and Spyware on Windows increased dramatically— by 147% and 24%, respectively.
“Among the top five threats for both businesses and consumers were the Microsoft Office software cracker KMS, the banking malware Dridex, and BitCoinMiners; business detections for KMS and Dridex rose by 2,251% and 973%, respectively,” it added.
The report claimed that notorious business threats like Emotet and Trickbot fell drastically but these were responsible for several big attacks in 2020.
For Android devices, the concern is majorly focused on hidden ads. “On Android, HiddenAds—which aggressively pushes ads to users—racked up 704,418 detections, an increase of nearly 149%,” it said. However, stalkerware-type app detections—which include detections for Monitor apps and Spyware apps on Android- have become popular. “Monitor
app detections rose from January to December by 565%; Spyware app detections rose across the same time period by 1,055%,” said Malwarebytes.
Interestingly, the agriculture industry saw a huge increase in malware attacks. As per the report, the agriculture industry suffered through a 607% increase in malware detections, while malware detections in the food and beverage industry increased by 67%.