{"id":12606,"date":"2019-07-24T14:07:53","date_gmt":"2019-07-24T08:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/?p=12606"},"modified":"2019-07-24T14:07:53","modified_gmt":"2019-07-24T08:37:53","slug":"are-your-passwords-stored-securely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.technologyforyou.org\/are-your-passwords-stored-securely\/","title":{"rendered":"Are your passwords stored securely..?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u2022 Are your passwords stored securely? Kaspersky finds 60% rise in users hit by password stealers in 2019<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 The use of malware designed to harvest consumers\u2019 digital data \u2013 known as password stealers \u2013 has seen a significant rise in 2019.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

According to Kaspersky\u2019s data, the number of users, targeted by the stealers, peaked from less than 600,000 in the first half of 2018 to over 940,000 during the same period in 2019.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Password Stealing Ware (PSW) is a major weapon in the cybercriminals\u2019 toolkit to sabotage users\u2019 privacy. This malicious type of software grabs data directly from users\u2019 web browsers using various methods. Quite often, this information is sensitive and includes access details for online accounts as well as financial information \u2013 like saved passwords, autofill data and saved payment card details.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, some families of this type of malware are designed to steal browser cookies, user files from a specific location (for example, a user\u2019s desktop) as well as app files, such as messenger services.\u00a0<\/span>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 USA.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the most widely spread Stealer Trojans was multifunctional Azorult, detected on the computers of more than 25% of all users who encountered Trojan-PSW type malware in the examined period.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cModern consumers are increasingly active online and understandably rely on the internet to carry out many tasks in their daily lives. This fills their digital profiles with more and more data and details and makes them a lucrative target for criminals as they could be monetized in numerous ways afterwards. By securely storing passwords and credentials, consumers can use their favorite 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,\u201d\u00a0notes Alexander Eremin, security researcher at Kaspersky.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kaspersky recommends that consumers follow this advice to ensure their passwords and other credentials remain secure :<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n