Financial threats in 2022: financial systems at risk, growing infostealers and more cryptocurrency attacks

During 2022, the cryptocurrency industry will face attacks from state-sponsored groups, while cybercriminals will try to profit from investors by creating rogue wallets with backdoors.

Attacks against payment systems are also likely to increase, alongside more advanced mobile threats. These are the key predictions in Kaspersky's Cyberthreats to Financial Organizations in 2022 report.

2021 was a year of challenges and innovation. There will always be those who adapt quickly and exploit change to their advantage, including cybercriminals. Because most digital threats seek financial gain, financial threats have always been a major part of the cyberthreat landscape. After closely examining the most important events and trends in financial threats during 2021, Kaspersky researchers attempted to predict the main trends expected in 2022. Their key predictions follow:

• Targeted cryptocurrency attacks will increase. Cryptocurrency is a digital asset whose transactions take place online, offering users anonymity. These features attract cybercriminals. However, criminal organisations are not the only actors targeting the industry: state-sponsored threat actors have also done so. APT groups have already attacked the cryptocurrency sector, and this trend is expected to grow.
• Flawed security and hardware wallets as hardware-based crypto threats. As cryptocurrency attacks become more targeted, cybercriminals continue finding new ways to steal investors' assets. Kaspersky researchers conclude that criminals will benefit from manufacturing and retailing rogue devices with backdoors, supported by social-engineering campaigns and other techniques to steal victims' assets.
• Infostealers will accelerate and establish themselves. Simplicity, affordability and effectiveness will play a central role in adapting infostealers to target assets, at least as first-stage data collectors. Different threat actors will use them to identify potential victims for further attacks. Information theft includes, but is not limited to, targeted ransomware attacks, traditional targeted attacks and other forms of attack.
• Mobile implants will develop. The pandemic accelerated mobile banking, which has matured considerably. Kaspersky experts foresee more Android mobile-banking Trojans, particularly RAT-type Trojans capable of bypassing banks' security measures such as OTP and MFA. Local and regional Android projects will spread globally, exporting attacks to Western Europe and other countries.

"This year has been difficult for many organisations: managing ad hoc employee remote access, hardening internet-connected systems against ransomware, and growing use of mobile banking and malware implants posed significant challenges. This environment created fertile ground for cybercriminals. At the same time, several criminals previously operating regionally expanded into other parts of the world, forcing cybersecurity teams to work harder to counter threats. It is therefore important to identify the main trend in an evolving financial-threat landscape and share our expertise to help businesses prepare and understand how to protect themselves against these threats," said Dmitry Bestuzhev, head of Kaspersky's Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) in Latin America.

The financial-threat predictions form part of the Kaspersky Security Bulletin (KSB), an annual series of forecasts and analytical reports on major changes in cybersecurity. Follow this link to see other KSB reports.

To see what Kaspersky experts predicted for 2021, follow this link: https://securelist.com/cyberthreats-to-financial-organizations-in-2021/99591/