Kaspersky finds 60 pc rise in users hit by password stealers

The use of malware designed to harvest consumers' digital data has seen a significant rise this year, according to global cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab.

The use of malware designed to harvest consumers' digital data has seen a significant rise this year, according to global cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab. The number of users targeted by password stealers peaked from less than six lakh in the first half of 2018 to over 9.4 lakh during the same period in 2019, it said in a statement.

Password stealing ware is a major weapon in the cybercriminals' toolkit to sabotage users' privacy. This malicious type of software grabs data directly from users' web browsers using various methods. Quite often, this information is sensitive and includes access details for online accounts as well as financial information like saved passwords, autofill data and saved payment card details.

Over the past six months, Kaspersky has detected high levels of activity by the stealers in Europe and Asia. Most frequently, the malware has targeted users in Russia, India, Brazil, Germany and the United States."By securely storing passwords and credentials, consumers can use their favourite online services in confidence that their information will not be put at risk. This should be also supported by installation of security solution as one can never be too careful," said Alexander Eremin, a security researcher at Kaspersky. Over 40 crore users are protected by Kaspersky technologies. The company serves 2.7 lakh corporate clients worldwide. (ANI)

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