News Coverage

While arguing that it is “entirely unacceptable for ICANN to leave each registrar to decide if and how it will provide continuous access, with no means of enforcement” Jonathan Matkowsky, VP of Intellectual Property and Brand Security at RiskIQ, says that “continuous access must be mandatory.” In conversation with SC Media UK, Matkowsky said he guaranteed that individual registrars simply do not have the resources to start taking on the additional work needed on the back-end that is being done for them using bulk access. Yet that is what would have to happen to avoid disrupting a stable and secure operation of the Internet identifiers until the accreditation system is up and running.

Malicious mobile apps were on the decline in Q4 of 2017 largely due to a decrease in the inventory of AndroidAPKDescargar, the most prolific dealer of blacklisted apps, according to digital threat management leader RiskIQ in its Q4 mobile threat landscape report, which analyzed 120 mobile app stores and more than 2 billion daily scanned resources. Listing and analyzing the app stores hosting the most malicious mobile apps and the most prolific developers of potentially malicious apps, the report documents the return of familiar threats such as brand imitation, phishing, and malware—as well as the discovery of a bankbot network preying on cryptocurrency customers.

Malicious mobile apps were on the decline in Q4 of 2017 largely due to a decrease in the inventory of AndroidAPKDescargar, the most prolific dealer of blacklisted apps, according to digital threat management leader RiskIQ in its Q4 mobile threat landscape report, which analysed 120 mobile app stores and more than 2 billion daily scanned resources. Listing and analysing the app stores hosting the most malicious mobile apps and the most prolific developers of potentially malicious apps, the report documents the return of familiar threats such as brand imitation, phishing, and malware—as well as the discovery of a bankbot network preying on cryptocurrency customers.

The threat of malicious mobile apps may be in slow decline, according to a new risk assessment from digital threat management company RiskIQ. Indeed, Q4 2017 saw a decline of 37% in malicious mobile apps led by a drop in inventory by one of the more prolific blacklisted app dealers, AndroidAPKDescargar.

Sam Curcuruto, head of product marketing for cyber security firm RiskIQ, says there is far greater demand for cyber defense IT positions than there is talented staff to fill them.

“Securing the mobile app ecosystem continues to be a challenge for app stores of all sizes, but efforts to improve version control, monitor for abuse, employ verification techniques, and offer security education can help,” said Mike Wyatt, RiskIQ’s director of product operations. “Tracking the use of brand names and likeness is an equally daunting challenge for corporations. Brands should evaluate and implement solutions that constantly monitor their digital footprint online and in mobile app stores.”

RiskIQ, a digital threat management company, has partnered with business risk intelligence organisation Flashpoint, to debut a Deep and Dark module within its External Threats solution. Through the partnership, data sourced from Flashpoint’s monitoring of deep and dark Web forums creates events in the RiskIQ platform, alongside other types of alerts.

In November 2017, RiskIQ researchers found a mobile app that was trying to pass itself off as a cryptocurrency market price app. This app was found to be part of the bankbot family of mobile Trojans and would monitor the device that installed it for a list of target apps. If the app were launched while the Trojan was installed, the Trojan would put an overlay over the legitimate app and collect sensitive information, such as login credentials from the banking customer.

“Securing the mobile app ecosystem continues to be a challenge for app stores of all sizes, but efforts to improve version control, monitor for abuse, employ verification techniques, and offer security education can help,” Mike Wyatt, director of Product Operations at RiskIQ said. “Tracking the use of brand names and likeness is an equally daunting challenge for corporations. Brands should evaluate and implement solutions that constantly monitor their digital footprint online and in mobile app stores.”