Malware Attack: 12 real and famous malware attacks

Introduction

Malware Attack: In this post, you will see the Top 12 real-world Malware attacks examples. I have already written a post on what is Malware to read [Click here].

Top 12 famous cyberattacks

Let’s see a recap on what is malware? Malware stands for Malicious software. Malware is created by cybercriminals to harm users computers. Generally, Malwares are created to damage or disrupt users data, Where some malware are created to gain financial help.

Locky – 2016 (Ransomware Attack)

Locky is a Ransomware attack. This is one of the first attacks of 2016, and it is an organized cyberattack. This particular ransomware malware was spread through Word doc, which contains malicious macros. This attack was spreader through spam mails. Therefore, This attack was taking place because of untrained employees.

Once the user clicks on the doc, then it says “Enable macro if data encoding is correct”. Now the user clicks on the link, then it starts to encrypt the files which match the extensions.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locky

And then ask the user to download TOR and go to an instruction link page, and the link asked for 1 bitcoin to decrypt the files.

Wanna cry – 2017 (Ransomware Attack)

Wanna cry would be one of the biggest ransomware attacks in history. This attack was firstly found in 2017 and spread almost to 150 countries. The malware was designed to exploit the security vulnerability in widows, which was created by NSA and the cybercrime group did this attack is named shadow broker.

Shadow Brokers hacking group presence was very active before this attack. According to Kaspersky. More than 2lakh computers were affected because of wanna cry ransomware.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WannaCry_ransomware_attack

The shadow brokers or Lazarus group encrypted files and demanded ransom in bitcoins. In this attack, mostly the cybercriminals targeted hospitals. 92 million pounds would be pay to the hackers from only the hospital attacks. The wanna cry approximate worldwide damage cost was 4 Billion.

Jig Shaw – 2016 (Ransomware ttack)

Jig Shaw was a ransomware attack. The name jig Shaw kept after a movie name. This attack found in 2016. And these cybercriminals deleted each file for unpaid ransom for every hour. In addition, the visuals were very frightening. This is also one of the dangerous ransomware attacks.

Appearch.info (Adware Attack)

The Appearch.info is another common Adware. I don’t know how much this Adware affected the users, but I could say it should be affected at least 100 million computers. So, how does this Adware work?

Firstly, this Adware enters into a user’s computer by attaching with other software programs. And Hijacks the web browser and changes the web browser settings and whenever the user searches in the infected browser, It redirects to Appearch.info.

The cybercriminals didn’t steal the information, but instead, they just put many pop-up Ads so, that they can gain revenue.

There is no targeted motive behind this attack, they just wanted to earn some money. Anyway, this Adware can completely take over the user web browser.

Kraken – 2008 (Botnet Attack)

The name is quite catchy, but the work the Kraken Botnet attack did is massive. I exactly don’t know how many users computers are affected by this attack. But it is said that it affected 10% of all Fortune companies, and it sends 6lakh spam emails every day, this is really a huge number. Then guess the number of infected computers involved in this attack.

Source: https://www.welivesecurity.com/2015/02/25/nine-bad-botnets-damage/

No Anti-malware could stop this attack and even with an updated Anti-malware, the attack couldn’t be stopped, and later the years passed and the Kraken botnet remains silent, at any time the attack can take place again.

Earth link spammer – 2000 (Botnet Attack)

Wait, You may have already heard about the name Earth link. Earth link is the Internet service provider. In early 2000, Khan k smith did a botnet attack on almost 1.2 million computers. Khan smith used the Earth link service without their knowledge. After the attack, A year later, he started to gather credit cards and sensitive data from the users. But he was sued 25Million in court and Earth link says Khan K Smith should at least got a profit of 3 Million using their Earth link service.

Flame Rootkit attacks – 2012 (Rootkit Attack)

Source: https://www.wired.com/2012/06/us-and-israel-behind-flame/

Cybersecurity experts from different countries have discovered the Flame Rootkit attack in 2012. This Rootkit is a headache for cybersecurity experts. The organization behind this attack is still unknown.

Let’s see what the Flame Rootkit attack can do? The Flame Rootkit attack can do everything, like takeover a user’s computer and monitor the screen, and also monitor the keystrokes. The most important is this rootkit malware can also monitor Internet traffic.

The cybersecurity team says they have found this malware almost on 80 Servers and across three continents. In my opinion, this is one of the biggest Rootkit exploits.

Zero access – 2011 (Rootkit attacks)

In 2011, Cybersecurity analysts got a call from users that their systems are not working. And the infected users cannot even enter into the computer and this is a Kernel-based rootkit attack.

It is said that more than 2 Million computers were affected by the zero access attack and half the system were seized and went to the trash can. I still don’t know who is behind this attack, and this Malware enters with trusted SaaS(Software as a service) Applications.

Once the malware enters the kernel, it remains silent and creates a backdoor attack. And Installs infected software programs through the backdoor. The Zero Access attack is still alive.

CWS – 2003 (Spyware attack)

CWS or CoolWebSearch, a Cybersecurity expert, firstly noticed this spyware malware in May 2003. The cyber expert added this spyware malware to the subset of Virus.

Firstly, this spyware malware enters through the drive-by method and the primary target of the malware is to affect the web browser. When the users open the web browser, all the settings will be changed and even the default search engine will be changed or deleted.

Whenever you try to make a move in the infected web browser, the user will redirect to a malicious sites or pornography sites. This malware specifically targets Microsoft Windows devices. The group behind this attack is Koobface and there 47 Variants of this CWS Spyware malware.

Rakhni Trojan – 2013 (Trojan Attack)

Rakhni Trojan was first found in the year 2013. This Malware enters through Via E-mails and when the users click the Trojan will take over the device. Rakhni Trojan is a targeted attack, This Malware particularly attacks corporate companies, And sends financial related documents.

I LOVE YOU – 2000 (Computer Virus)

This is one of my favourite Malware. This Malware was first found in the year 2000 and the guy who invented this malware is a college student, His name is Onel De Guzman. So, what does this I LOVE YOU Malware does?

Morris Worm – 1988 (worm attack)

This is the first worm attack, which is available on the record. The developer of this Morris worm is Rober Tappen Morris Jr. He is a kernel graduated student. So, Let’s see how this worm has attacked 60k systems.

Firstly, the malware is put on ARPANET, ARPANET is the basis for the Internet and the system connected to the network was also infected, More than 60K Systems were infected and the attack repeatedly took place on the same computers. And cybersecurity experts say this is the first DOS attack on record.