Threat actors are increasingly leveraging mobile devices as initial point of compromise
Lookout, Inc., the data-centric cloud security company, today released the Lookout Annual Threat Landscape Report. The report is based on data derived from Lookout Security Cloud’s ever-growing AI-driven mobile dataset of more than 230 million devices, 375 million apps, and billions of web items. In addition, Lookout leverages AI to help analyze data and identify malware, phishing attacks and other sophisticated threats.
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Lookout data for 2024 also reveals:
- Lookout observed that 26% of iOS devices were targeted by threat actors with phishing attacks versus Android users (12%) in 2024.
- Globally, the APAC region has the highest phishing encounter rates, followed by EMEA and North America.
- 427,000 malicious apps were detected on enterprise devices, which can vary widely from infostealers to sophisticated spyware.
- Lookout implemented protection against 159 new mobile malware families, and enhanced protection against 247 known families.
- The vast majority of malware discoveries were classified as trojan malware, followed by surveillanceware and adware.
- The most critical families of mobile malware continued to lean heavily towards Android surveillanceware
- Top device misconfigurations include out-of-date OS (29.5%), out-of-date Android Security Patch Levels (ASPL) (11.5%), no device lock (12%) and no encryption (3.3%)
Evolving Enterprise Security Strategy for the Rise of the Modern Kill Chain
2024 brought about countless new cybersecurity challenges including significant growth of the mobile threat landscape. Threat actors, ranging from nation-states to individuals, are increasingly targeting mobile devices for the onset of their attacks to steal credentials and infiltrate the enterprise cloud in a pathway known as the Modern Kill Chain. More than ever, organizations of every size across every industry must view mobile targeting as a canary in the coal mine – an early indication that they could be under attack elsewhere in their infrastructure.
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“Targeting mobile devices as the gateway to corporate clouds has become the modus operandi of modern threat actors. Yet, mobile devices remain a common blind spot for organizations,” said David Richardson, Vice President of Product, Lookout. “To stay ahead of threats, organizations must prioritize mobile security as an integral part of their overall defense strategy. By leveraging mobile endpoint detection and response (EDR), organizations can ensure they have visibility into their mobile fleet and that their sensitive data is protected, wherever it lives.”
Lookout Threat Lab: Empowering Security Teams with Mobile Threat Intelligence
Lookout collects and analyzes proprietary data points to provide customer security teams with comprehensive protection capabilities against mobile cyber attacks. Its advanced threat intelligence and AI machine learning technology ensure that mobile devices are safeguarded from the latest threats.
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