Financial Malware Attacks on Computers in Armenia Have Sharply Intensified

In Armenia, 1.3% of computer users faced attempts to launch financial malware designed for stealing money through online access to bank accounts in the second quarter of 2020. In comparison, this figure was 0.9% in Georgia and Azerbaijan. The share of users in Armenia who experienced financial computer attacks in the second quarter of 2019 was 0.5%, while in Georgia and Azerbaijan it was 0.7%.

From April to June 2020, Turkmenistan recorded the highest percentage of users affected by financial malware attacks globally, at 7.5%, followed by Uzbekistan at 5.7% and Tajikistan at 5.6%. This information comes from the data provided by Kaspersky, which indicates that there were attempts to launch malware on the computers of 181,725 users worldwide in the second quarter of 2020, down from 228,206 during the same period the previous year.

Cybercriminals pave the way to users' banking details and funds by creating fake web pages for banks, online stores, and payment systems, as well as through spam, phishing, and keylogger programs. Their main goal is to persuade users to download banking Trojan programs onto their home and corporate computers, which then send the information about bank cards and payment details to the attackers.

Experts suggest that the best defense against Trojan programs is not to open attached files sent by strangers via email, social media, or messengers, and not to run programs downloaded from websites unless the user is 100% certain of the source of the files. It is also essential to regularly update software, as hackers exploit known vulnerabilities in protective systems to send Trojan programs to computers.