Cyber criminals have been switching up their methods because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up allowing them to stay ahead of the authorities. A major aspect of that has involved them moving over to Telegram, since most forums were no longer providing them the level of privacy that they rather ironically desired. This has allowed researchers to keep a closer eye on the goings on within the criminal community.
The second quarter of 2022 saw a huge boost in criminal activity on Telegram, with over 27,000 messages being exchanged on the platform. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that anyone can hire a malicious actor to hack a WhatsApp, Viber or Telegram account for as little as $350, and that just goes to show how affordable such activities have started to become.
Remote access trojans, or RATs for short, were also incredibly popular on all of these forums with all things having been considered and taken into account. They were referred to in about 30% of the messages that were analyzed, and they can be used to gain illicit access to someone else’s device. Infostealers came in second with around 18% of messages referring to them, followed by botnets with 16%.
The price of a RAT through these Telegram groups ranged anywhere from $10 to $500 based on the type of malware that the buyer is after. All of the most popular RATs targeted Android devices, so people that use Android might be more susceptible to them than might have been the case otherwise.
As for infostealers, the range of prices was far more dramatic than it was for RATs. These forms of malware can cost anywhere from just $10 all the way to $3,500, and buyers can also get some solid customer support from the Telegram channels.
This indicates that the malicious actor community is becoming a lot more organized. Malware as a service is increasing in popularity, and that does not bode well for the future of cybersecurity.
Read next: Users Are Receiving More Unwanted Emails Than Ever, and It’s Causing Phishing Attacks
The second quarter of 2022 saw a huge boost in criminal activity on Telegram, with over 27,000 messages being exchanged on the platform. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that anyone can hire a malicious actor to hack a WhatsApp, Viber or Telegram account for as little as $350, and that just goes to show how affordable such activities have started to become.
Remote access trojans, or RATs for short, were also incredibly popular on all of these forums with all things having been considered and taken into account. They were referred to in about 30% of the messages that were analyzed, and they can be used to gain illicit access to someone else’s device. Infostealers came in second with around 18% of messages referring to them, followed by botnets with 16%.
The price of a RAT through these Telegram groups ranged anywhere from $10 to $500 based on the type of malware that the buyer is after. All of the most popular RATs targeted Android devices, so people that use Android might be more susceptible to them than might have been the case otherwise.
As for infostealers, the range of prices was far more dramatic than it was for RATs. These forms of malware can cost anywhere from just $10 all the way to $3,500, and buyers can also get some solid customer support from the Telegram channels.
This indicates that the malicious actor community is becoming a lot more organized. Malware as a service is increasing in popularity, and that does not bode well for the future of cybersecurity.
Read next: Users Are Receiving More Unwanted Emails Than Ever, and It’s Causing Phishing Attacks
