Following Summer Trends: The increase in summer 2022 incidents matches that of 2021
Matthew Rostick, Economics & PUBLIC POLICY, the university of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The Duke University and The Media Trust research team have continued to track malware activity from undesired third-party code against internet users. This blog aims to update our readers on the recent activity and trends observed from July and August. The reader can find previous updates and more on the Media Trust project on our website. At the bottom of the page are graphs for clarity on some data trends.
As promised in last month’s update, the Media Trust team has continued to monitor the strange lull and significant increase in Total and Unique scans. As we head into the fall, the sharp rise in June continued its growth. The total number of scans increased all across the board from June into July. However, it grew at a less extreme rate through July and August. At the end of August, the rate of increase had begun to taper off. That said, the numbers are the highest we have seen in almost a year. The graph below shows the trend of total scans across all time.
The increase in scans this summer is not surprising, considering the growth seen last June, July, and August 2021. Unique scans showed less change and remained relatively constant to what was reported. Come September, the total scans will decrease to a more normal rate. We will watch this trend in the months to come.
The second trend that continued from last month is the unusual increase in Suspicious Incidents. Duke and Work From Home are seeing the highest numbers of Suspicious scans recorded. With numbers in the hundreds. The Work from Home Total rose by 200 suspicious scams in July and August. They increased by 100% between June and August. The Duke’s suspicious scans did not increase but stayed relatively constant at high levels.
Another noteworthy phenomenon is the sudden jump in both Total and Unique Phishing scans. Over the past year, we have seen a significant decrease to almost no phishing attacks on Duke Profiles and very little on Work from Home profiles. This changed in July and August with sudden jumps in the amount of phishing. Work From Home total incident phishing scans was up 600% in July. Similarly, Duke profiles jumped from 0 phishing scans to 168 scans in July. The second noteworthy trend is the emergence and rapid growth of Automatic download: Exploit kit in the Work From Home profiles. July was the first month of recorded Exploit kits, with 81 total scans. That number increased to 92 scans in August. The team will look deeper into the recent emergence of new types of malware and what may be causing them to appear more regularly.
The major takeaway from these two months is the continued increase in Total scans and the emergence of yet another type of malware. We will continue to track the rise in data into the fall to see if the numbers level out or if the trend continues.
