75 percent of commercial banks in US infected by malware – report

Several malware families, including Ponyloader, Vertexnext and Keybase were detected among many of the top 20 banks. Over 422 malware events over the past year were detected in just one of the commercial banks. A total of 788 malware events were detected in all 20 commercial banks.

Researchers found that a majority of USs top financial institutions have been using insecure email service providers (ESP), leaving many at risk of spam email campaigns and other targeted cyberattacks.

The report also detailed that most financial institutions were found to be running on outdated operating systems. 

Alex Heid, SecurityScorecard chief research officer, said that Financial institutions can reduce their risk of attack from malware by ensuring that all endpoints are running the latest, secured versions of their operating systems and browsers, as well as ensuring all web browsing plugins are up to date.

The report also disclosed that financial institutions across the world suffered from 22 major publicly disclosed data breaches over 2015-2016.