Don’t let malware steal your fortune; this type of fraud grows 41%

The cybersecurity firm ESET details that Mexico is one of the most vulnerable countries in the region, with an increase of up to 60% in infection attempts with banking malware in the last two years, while Kaspersky reported an 80% increase in attacks with banking Trojans in Latin America between 2021 and 2022.

“Users are more constantly aware of their electronic banking, but we need greater awareness on digital security issues. Although biometrics are used in some devices and applications, many users still do not know how to put extra layers of protection to their interactions,” said Víctor Ruiz, founder of the cybersecurity company Silkn.

Given the growth of attacks such as the Grandoreiro and TrickBot banking Trojans, in which you can even access patterns or access pins on smartphones, banks and cybersecurity specialists are beginning to consider this type of fraud as one of the most urgent tasks. to attend.

“The activity of banking Trojans is interesting. On the one hand, the detection of attacks from this malware is decreasing globally. However, if we look at Latin America we can see that this threat has remained stable and has even had growth peaks, as occurred in 2023,” said Fabio Assolini, director of the Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) for Latin America in Kaspersky.

According to Assolini, more families of Brazilian banking Trojans are expected to expand throughout the world, as the criminals behind them have taken advantage of a window of opportunity: to fill the gaps left by groups that have focused on other types of attacks, or be it Europe’s hotbed of this or China that now focuses on other types of vulnerabilities.

For its part, the consulting firm Gartner expects global spending on cybersecurity by end users to grow more than 15% year-on-year during 2025, reaching a new high of $212 billion.

Specialists also warn that cybercriminals often direct their attacks towards Android users, due to the ease of installing applications from external sources and the variety of mobile banking applications that may not always be adequately protected.

To protect themselves, users should download apps only from the Play Store, avoid links from unknown sources, and use cybersecurity apps that monitor their devices.