CAPE TOWN - Statistics revealed by cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab, shows that 1 in 4 mobile users who encountered malware in 2017, were attacked by malicious programmes by accessing adult content sites.
Kaspersky revealed that over 1.2 million people had fallen victim to attacks.This followed research into cyberthreats facing users of adult websites and apps.
"A victim that has been compromised with an adult content-enabled malicious program might think twice before reporting the incident, simply because the very fact that they were trying to find porn content is viewed critically,” said Roman Unuchek, security expert at Kaspersky.
“Therefore, from the attacker’s perspective, such a person is a much more convenient victim. This is one of the reasons why we see so many attacks with porn malware. The other one is much simpler: people are consuming ever more content via mobile. This includes adult content as well,” Unuchek said.
“Sex sells, as they say in advertising. However, in cyberspace it serves not only as a method for securing sales, but also as a tool for malicious activity,” the company said.
According to the research, when downloading an unknown porn application, users are at greatest risk of being infected.
Upon infection, this malware starts to click through ad-links or try to subscribe the user to a WAP-subscription and will use all your prepaid mobile credit.
“Banking Trojans disguised as porn video players are the second most widespread type of porn-powered malware. This is followed by rooting malware and ransomware,”
Additionally, scammers will try to use scareware tactics by showing a message stating that content being used is illegal and has been detected on the device and that the device has therefore been locked.
In order to unlock the device, the victim has to pay a ransom.
Kaspersky warns that users should use trusted sites and to not install untrusted apps from unknown sources.