Security Awareness – Office Exploits Continue to Spread More Than Any Other Category of Malware

Overall malware detections have decreased from their record high in the first half of 2021, but there was an increase in encrypted malware and threats targeting Chrome and Microsoft Office, according to WatchGuard Threat Lab’s latest report.

WatchGuard’s Internet Security Report from the second quarter of 2022, found that 81 percent of malware hides behind encryption and over half of all malware (53 percent) evades signature detection. The quarter’s top threat, according to the report, was the Follina Office vulnerability (tracked CVE–2022–30190), which was first reported in April and patched in late May and since its discovery it has been actively exploited by threat actors. Furthermore, the report found that despite a 20 percent decrease in total endpoint malware detections, malware exploiting browsers collectively increased by 23 percent, with Chrome seeing a 50 percent surge. Lastly, the report continues to see a resurgence in the use of Emotet malware, remaining one of the top threats for enterprise networks. Access the full report at WatchGuard or read more at HelpNetSecurity.