Since the introduction of the Chrome Web Store in 2011, it has become the largest catalog of browser extensions with over 200,000 available to all of our users. This has helped millions of users to customize their browsing experience on Chrome in ways we could have never imagined, from niche utilities to companies building businesses around the platform’s capabilities.
Recorded Future’s Insikt GroupⓇ analyzed advertisements and comments within underground forums to determine popular malware and malware categories within underground forums. Sources include the Recorded FutureⓇ Platform, as well as open web, dark web, and underground forum research.
This report will be of greatest interest to organizations seeking to better understand malware dissemination within the criminal underground, as well as those who wish to monitor developing malware-related criminal threats.
By analyzing over 3.9 million posts from May 2018 to May 2019 across all underground forums indexed by the Recorded Future platform, Insikt Group identified the top malware variants being referenced on underground forums. Insikt Group also attempted to find real-world events that correlated with a higher number of malware references on these forums, as well as differences in tools advertised in forums of different languages, to see if any differences existed.
MyDoom is an infamous computer worm first noted in early 2004. This malware has been featured in top ten lists of the most destructive computer viruses, causing an estimated $38 billion in damage. Although now well past its heyday, MyDoom continues to be a presence in the cyber threat landscape.
