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The mobile section of our quarterly cyberthreat report includes statistics on malware, adware, and potentially unwanted software for Android, as well as descriptions of the most notable threats for Android and iOS discovered during the reporting period. The statistics in this report are based on detection alerts from Kaspersky products, collected from users who consented to provide anonymized data to Kaspersky Security Network.
Quarterly figures
According to Kaspersky Security Network, in Q2 2025:
Our solutions blocked 10.71 million malware, adware, and unwanted mobile software attacks.
Trojans, the most common mobile threat, affected 31.69% of Kaspersky users who encountered mobile threats during the reporting period.
Just under 143,000 malicious installation packages were detected, of which:
42,220 were mobile banking Trojans;
695 packages were mobile ransomware Trojans.
Quarterly highlights
Mobile attacks involving malware, adware, and unwanted software dropped to 10.71 million.
Attacks on users of Kaspersky mobile solutions, Q4 2023 — Q2 2025 (download)
The trend is mainly due to a decrease in the activity of RiskTool.AndroidOS.SpyLoan. These are applications typically associated with microlenders and containing a potentially dangerous framework for monitoring borrowers and collecting their data, such as contacts lists. Curiously, such applications have been found pre-installed on some devices.
In Q2, we found a new malicious app for Android and iOS that was stealing images from the gallery. We were able to determine that this campaign was linked to the previously discovered SparkCat, so we dubbed it SparkKitty.
Fake app store page distributing SparkKitty
Like its “big brother”, the new malware most likely targets recovery codes for crypto wallets saved as screenshots.
Trojan-DDoS.AndroidOS.Agent.a was this past quarter’s unusual discovery. Malicious actors embedded an SDK for conducting dynamically configurable DDoS attacks into apps designed for viewing adult content. The Trojan allows for sending specific data to addresses designated by the attacker at a set frequency. Building a DDoS botnet from mobile devices with adult apps installed may seem like a questionable venture in terms of attack efficiency and power – but apparently, some cybercriminals have found a use for this approach.
In Q2, we also encountered Trojan-Spy.AndroidOS.OtpSteal.a, a fake VPN client that hijacks user accounts. Instead of the advertised features, it uses the Notification Listener service to intercept OTP codes from various messaging apps and social networks, and sends them to the attackers’ Telegram chat via a bot.
Mobile threat statistics
The number of Android malware and potentially unwanted app samples decreased from Q1, reaching a total of 142,762 installation packages.
The distribution of detected installation packages by type in Q2 was as follows:
Detected mobile malware by type, Q1 — Q2 2025 (download)
* Data for the previous quarter may differ slightly from previously published data due to some verdicts being retrospectively revised.
Banking Trojans remained in first place, with their share increasing relative to Q1. The Mamont family continues to dominate this category. In contrast, spy Trojans dropped to fifth place as the surge in the number of APK files for the SMS-stealing Trojan-Spy.AndroidOS.Agent.akg subsided. The number of Agent.amw spyware files, which masquerade as casino apps, also decreased.
RiskTool-type unwanted apps and adware ranked second and third, respectively, while Trojans – with most files belonging to the Triada family – occupied the fourth place.
Share* of users attacked by the given type of malicious or potentially unwanted apps out of all targeted users of Kaspersky mobile products, Q1 — Q2 2025 (download)
* The total may exceed 100% if the same users experienced multiple attack types.
The distribution of attacked users remained close to that of the previous quarter. The increase in the share of backdoors is linked to the discovery of Backdoor.Triada.z, which came pre-installed on devices. As for adware, the proportion of users affected by the HiddenAd family has grown.
TOP 20 most frequently detected types of mobile malware
Note that the malware rankings below exclude riskware or potentially unwanted software, such as RiskTool or adware.
Verdict
%* Q1 2025
%* Q2 2025
Difference (p.p.)
Change in rank
Trojan.AndroidOS.Fakemoney.v
26.41
14.57
-11.84
0
Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Mamont.da
11.21
12.42
+1.20
+2
Backdoor.AndroidOS.Triada.z
4.71
10.29
+5.58
+3
Trojan.AndroidOS.Triada.fe
3.48
7.16
+3.69
+4
Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Mamont.ev
0.00
6.97
+6.97
Trojan.AndroidOS.Triada.gn
2.68
6.54
+3.86
+3
Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Mamont.db
16.00
5.50
-10.50
-4
Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Mamont.ek
1.83
5.09
+3.26
+7
DangerousObject.Multi.Generic.
19.30
4.21
-15.09
-7
Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Mamont.eb
1.59
2.58
+0.99
+7
Trojan.AndroidOS.Triada.hf
3.81
2.41
-1.40
-4
Trojan-Downloader.AndroidOS.Dwphon.a
2.19
2.24
+0.05
0
Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Mamont.ef
2.44
2.20
-0.24
-2
Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Mamont.es
0.05
2.13
+2.08
Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Mamont.dn
1.46
2.13
+0.67
+5
Trojan-Downloader.AndroidOS.Agent.mm
1.45
1.56
+0.11
+6
Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Agent.rj
1.86
1.45
-0.42
-3
Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Mamont.ey
0.00
1.42
+1.42
Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Mamont.bc
7.61
1.39
-6.23
-14
Trojan.AndroidOS.Boogr.gsh
1.41
1.36
-0.06
+3
* Unique users who encountered this malware as a percentage of all attacked users of Kaspersky mobile solutions.
The activity of Fakemoney scam apps noticeably decreased in Q2, but they still held the top position. Almost all the other entries on the list are variants of the popular banking Trojan Mamont, pre-installed Trojans like Triada and Dwphon, and modified messaging apps with the Triada Trojan built in (Triada.fe, Triada.gn, Triada.ga, and Triada.gs).
Region-specific malware
This section describes malware types that mostly affected specific countries.
Verdict
Country*
%**
Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Coper.c
Türkiye
98.65
Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Coper.a
Türkiye
97.78
Trojan-Dropper.AndroidOS.Rewardsteal.h
India
95.62
Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Rewardsteal.lv
India
95.48
Trojan-Dropper.AndroidOS.Agent.sm
Türkiye
94.52
Trojan.AndroidOS.Fakeapp.hy
Uzbekistan
86.51
Trojan.AndroidOS.Piom.bkzj
Uzbekistan
85.83
Trojan-Dropper.AndroidOS.Pylcasa.c
Brazil
83.06
* The country where the malware was most active. ** Unique users who encountered this Trojan variant in the indicated country as a percentage of all Kaspersky mobile security solution users attacked by the same variant.
In addition to the typical banking Trojans for this category – Coper, which targets users in Türkiye, and Rewatrdsteal, active in India – the list also includes the fake job search apps Fakeapp.hy and Piom.bkzj, which specifically target Uzbekistan. Both families collect the user’s personal data. Meanwhile, new droppers named “Pylcasa” operated in Brazil. They infiltrate Google Play by masquerading as simple apps, such as calculators, but once launched, they open a URL provided by malicious actors – similar to Trojans of the Fakemoney family. These URLs may lead to illegal casino websites or phishing pages.
Mobile banking Trojans
The number of banking Trojans detected in Q2 2025 was slightly lower than in Q1 but still significantly exceeded the figures for 2024. Kaspersky solutions detected a total of 42,220 installation packages of this type.
Number of installation packages for mobile banking Trojans detected by Kaspersky, Q2 2024 — Q2 2025 (download)
The bulk of mobile banking Trojan installation packages still consists of various modifications of Mamont, which account for 57.7%. In terms of the share of affected users, Mamont also outpaced all its competitors, occupying nearly all the top spots on the list of the most widespread banking Trojans.
TOP 10 mobile bankers
Verdict
%* Q1 2025
%* Q2 2025
Difference (p.p.)
Change in rank
Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Mamont.da
26.68
30.28
+3.59
+1
Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Mamont.ev
0.00
17.00
+17.00
Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Mamont.db
38.07
13.41
-24.66
-2
Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Mamont.ek
4.37
12.42
+8.05
+2
Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Mamont.eb
3.80
6.29
+2.50
+2
Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Mamont.ef
5.80
5.36
-0.45
-2
Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Mamont.es
0.12
5.20
+5.07
+23
Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Mamont.dn
3.48
5.20
+1.72
+1
Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Agent.rj
4.43
3.53
-0.90
-4
Trojan-Banker.AndroidOS.Mamont.ey
0.00
3.47
+3.47
9
Conclusion
In Q2 2025, the number of attacks involving malware, adware, and unwanted software decreased compared to Q1. At the same time, Trojans and banking Trojans remained the most common threats, particularly the highly active Mamont family. Additionally, the quarter was marked by the discovery of the second spyware Trojan of 2025 to infiltrate the App Store, along with a fake VPN client stealing OTP codes and a DDoS bot concealed within porn-viewing apps.
The statistics in this report are based on detection verdicts returned by Kaspersky products unless otherwise stated. The information was provided by Kaspersky users who consented to sharing statistical data.
The quarter in numbers
In Q2 2025:
Kaspersky solutions blocked more than 471 million attacks originating from various online resources.
Web Anti-Virus detected 77 million unique links.
File Anti-Virus blocked nearly 23 million malicious and potentially unwanted objects.
There were 1,702 new ransomware modifications discovered.
Just under 86,000 users were targeted by ransomware attacks.
Of all ransomware victims whose data was published on threat actors’ data leak sites (DLS), 12% were victims of Qilin.
Almost 280,000 users were targeted by miners.
Ransomware
Quarterly trends and highlights
Law enforcement success
The alleged malicious actor behind the Black Kingdom ransomware attacks was indicted in the U.S. The Yemeni national is accused of infecting about 1,500 computers in the U.S. and other countries through vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange. He also stands accused of demanding a ransom of $10,000 in bitcoin, which is the amount victims saw in the ransom note. He is also alleged to be the developer of the Black Kingdom ransomware.
A Ukrainian national was extradited to the U.S. in the Nefilim case. He was arrested in Spain in June 2024 on charges of distributing ransomware and extorting victims. According to the investigation, he had been part of the Nefilim Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) operation since 2021, targeting high-revenue organizations. Nefilim uses the classic double extortion scheme: cybercriminals steal the victim’s data, encrypt it, then threaten to publish it online.
Also arrested was a member of the Ryuk gang, charged with organizing initial access to victims’ networks. The accused was apprehended in Kyiv in April 2025 at the request of the FBI and extradited to the U.S. in June.
A man suspected of being involved in attacks by the DoppelPaymer gang was arrested. In a joint operation by law enforcement in the Netherlands and Moldova, the 45-year-old was arrested in May. He is accused of carrying out attacks against Dutch organizations in 2021. Authorities seized around €84,800 and several devices.
A 39-year-old Iranian national pleaded guilty to participating in RobbinHood ransomware attacks. Among the targets of the attacks, which took place from 2019 to 2024, were U.S. local government agencies, healthcare providers, and non-profit organizations.
Vulnerabilities and attacks
Mass exploitation of a vulnerability in SAP NetWeaver
In May, it was revealed that several ransomware gangs, including BianLian and RansomExx, had been exploiting CVE-2025-31324 in SAP NetWeaver software. Successful exploitation of this vulnerability allows attackers to upload malicious files without authentication, which can lead to a complete system compromise.
Attacks via the SimpleHelp remote administration tool
The DragonForce group compromised an MSP provider, attacking its clients with the help of the SimpleHelp remote administration tool. According to researchers, the attackers exploited a set of vulnerabilities (CVE-2024-57727, CVE-2024-57728, CVE-2024-57726) in the software to launch the DragonForce ransomware on victims’ hosts.
Qilin exploits vulnerabilities in Fortinet
In June, news broke that the Qilin gang (also known as Agenda) was actively exploiting critical vulnerabilities in Fortinet devices to infiltrate corporate networks. The attackers allegedly exploited the vulnerabilities CVE-2024-21762 and CVE-2024-55591 in FortiGate software, which allowed them to bypass authentication and execute malicious code remotely. After gaining access, the cybercriminals encrypted data on systems within the corporate network and demanded a ransom.
Exploitation of a Windows CLFS vulnerability
April saw the detection of attacks that leveraged CVE-2025-29824, a zero-day vulnerability in the Windows Common Log File System (CLFS) driver, a core component of the Windows OS. This vulnerability allows an attacker to elevate privileges on a compromised system. Researchers have linked these incidents to the RansomExx and Play gangs. The attackers targeted companies in North and South America, Europe, and the Middle East.
The most prolific groups
This section highlights the most prolific ransomware gangs by number of victims added to each group’s DLS during the reporting period. In the second quarter, Qilin (12.07%) proved to be the most prolific group. RansomHub, the leader of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, seems to have gone dormant since April. Clop (10.83%) and Akira (8.53%) swapped places compared to the previous reporting period.
Number of each group’s victims according to its DLS as a percentage of all groups’ victims published on all the DLSs under review during the reporting period (download)
Number of new variants
In the second quarter, Kaspersky solutions detected three new families and 1,702 new ransomware variants. This is significantly fewer than in the previous reporting period. The decrease is linked to the renewed decline in the count of the Trojan-Ransom.Win32.Gen verdicts, following a spike last quarter.
Number of new ransomware modifications, Q2 2024 — Q2 2025 (download)
Number of users attacked by ransomware Trojans
Our solutions protected a total of 85,702 unique users from ransomware during the second quarter.
Number of unique users attacked by ransomware Trojans, Q2 2025 (download)
Geography of attacked users
TOP 10 countries and territories attacked by ransomware Trojans
Country/territory*
%**
1
Libya
0.66
2
China
0.58
3
Rwanda
0.57
4
South Korea
0.51
5
Tajikistan
0.49
6
Bangladesh
0.45
7
Iraq
0.45
8
Pakistan
0.38
9
Brazil
0.38
10
Tanzania
0.35
* Excluded are countries and territories with relatively few (under 50,000) Kaspersky users. ** Unique users whose computers were attacked by ransomware Trojans as a percentage of all unique users of Kaspersky products in the country/territory.
* Unique Kaspersky users attacked by the specific ransomware Trojan family as a percentage of all unique users attacked by this type of threat.
Miners
Number of new variants
In the second quarter of 2025, Kaspersky solutions detected 2,245 new modifications of miners.
Number of new miner modifications, Q2 2025 (download)
Number of users attacked by miners
During the second quarter, we detected attacks using miner programs on the computers of 279,630 unique Kaspersky users worldwide.
Number of unique users attacked by miners, Q2 2025 (download)
Geography of attacked users
TOP 10 countries and territories attacked by miners
Country/territory*
%**
1
Senegal
3.49
2
Panama
1.31
3
Kazakhstan
1.11
4
Ethiopia
1.02
5
Belarus
1.01
6
Mali
0.96
7
Tajikistan
0.88
8
Tanzania
0.80
9
Moldova
0.80
10
Dominican Republic
0.80
* Excluded are countries and territories with relatively few (under 50,000) Kaspersky users. ** Unique users whose computers were attacked by miners as a percentage of all unique users of Kaspersky products in the country/territory.
Attacks on macOS
Among the threats to macOS, one of the biggest discoveries of the second quarter was the PasivRobber family. This spyware consists of a huge number of modules designed to steal data from QQ, WeChat, and other messaging apps and applications that are popular mainly among Chinese users. Its distinctive feature is that the spyware modules get embedded into the target process when the device goes into sleep mode.
Closer to the middle of the quarter, several reports (1, 2, 3) emerged about attackers stepping up their activity, posing as victims’ trusted contacts on Telegram and convincing them to join a Zoom call. During or before the call, the user was persuaded to run a seemingly Zoom-related utility, but which was actually malware. The infection chain led to the download of a backdoor written in the Nim language and bash scripts that stole data from browsers.
TOP 20 threats to macOS
* Unique users who encountered this malware as a percentage of all attacked users of Kaspersky security solutions for macOS (download)
* Data for the previous quarter may differ slightly from previously published data due to some verdicts being retrospectively revised.
A new piece of spyware named PasivRobber, discovered in the second quarter, immediately became the most widespread threat, attacking more users than the fake cleaners and adware typically seen on macOS. Also among the most common threats were the password- and crypto wallet-stealing Trojan Amos and the general detection Trojan.OSX.Agent.gen, which we described in our previous report.
Geography of threats to macOS
TOP 10 countries and territories by share of attacked users
Country/territory
%* Q1 2025
%* Q2 2025
Mainland China
0.73%
2.50%
France
1.52%
1.08%
Hong Kong
1.21%
0.84%
India
0.84%
0.76%
Mexico
0.85%
0.76%
Brazil
0.66%
0.70%
Germany
0.96%
0.69%
Singapore
0.32%
0.63%
Russian Federation
0.50%
0.41%
South Korea
0.10%
0.32%
* Unique users who encountered threats to macOS as a percentage of all unique Kaspersky users in the country/territory.
IoT threat statistics
This section presents statistics on attacks targeting Kaspersky IoT honeypots. The geographic data on attack sources is based on the IP addresses of attacking devices.
In the second quarter of 2025, there was another increase in both the share of attacks using the Telnet protocol and the share of devices connecting to Kaspersky honeypots via this protocol.
Distribution of attacked services by number of unique IP addresses of attacking devices (download)
Distribution of attackers’ sessions in Kaspersky honeypots (download)
TOP 10 threats delivered to IoT devices
Share of each threat delivered to an infected device as a result of a successful attack, out of the total number of threats delivered (download)
In the second quarter, the share of the NyaDrop botnet among threats delivered to our honeypots grew significantly to 30.27%. Conversely, the number of Mirai variants on the list of most common malware decreased, as did the share of most of them. Additionally, after a spike in the first quarter, the share of BitCoinMiner miners dropped to 1.57%.
During the reporting period, the list of most common IoT threats expanded with new families. The activity of the Agent.nx backdoor (4.48%), controlled via P2P through the BitTorrent DHT distributed hash table, grew markedly. Another newcomer to the list, Prometei, is a Linux version of a Windows botnet that was first discovered in December 2020.
Attacks on IoT honeypots
Geographically speaking, the percentage of SSH attacks originating from Germany and the U.S. increased sharply.
Country/territory
Q1 2025
Q2 2025
Germany
1.60%
24.58%
United States
5.52%
10.81%
Russian Federation
9.16%
8.45%
Australia
2.75%
8.01%
Seychelles
1.32%
6.54%
Bulgaria
1.25%
3.66%
The Netherlands
0.63%
3.53%
Vietnam
2.27%
3.00%
Romania
1.34%
2.92%
India
19.16%
2.89%
The share of Telnet attacks originating from China and India remained high, with more than half of all attacks on Kaspersky honeypots coming from these two countries combined.
Country/territory
Q1 2025
Q2 2025
China
39.82%
47.02%
India
30.07%
28.08%
Indonesia
2.25%
5.54%
Russian Federation
5.14%
4.85%
Pakistan
3.99%
3.58%
Brazil
12.03%
2.35%
Nigeria
3.01%
1.66%
Germany
0.09%
1.47%
United States
0.68%
0.75%
Argentina
0.01%
0.70%
Attacks via web resources
The statistics in this section are based on detection verdicts by Web Anti-Virus, which protects users when suspicious objects are downloaded from malicious or infected web pages. Cybercriminals create malicious pages with a goal in mind. Websites that host user-generated content, such as message boards, as well as compromised legitimate sites, can become infected.
Countries that served as sources of web-based attacks: TOP 10
This section gives the geographical distribution of sources of online attacks blocked by Kaspersky products: web pages that redirect to exploits; sites that host exploits and other malware; botnet C2 centers, and the like. Any unique host could be the source of one or more web-based attacks.
To determine the geographic source of web attacks, we matched the domain name with the real IP address where the domain is hosted, then identified the geographic location of that IP address (GeoIP).
In the second quarter of 2025, Kaspersky solutions blocked 471,066,028 attacks from internet resources worldwide. Web Anti-Virus responded to 77,371,384 unique URLs.
Countries and territories where users faced the greatest risk of online infection
To assess the risk of malware infection via the internet for users’ computers in different countries and territories, we calculated the share of Kaspersky users in each location who experienced a Web Anti-Virus alert during the reporting period. The resulting data provides an indication of the aggressiveness of the environment in which computers operate in different countries and territories.
This ranked list includes only attacks by malicious objects classified as Malware. Our calculations leave out Web Anti-Virus detections of potentially dangerous or unwanted programs, such as RiskTool or adware.
Country/territory*
%**
1
Bangladesh
10.85
2
Tajikistan
10.70
3
Belarus
8.96
4
Nepal
8.45
5
Algeria
8.21
6
Moldova
8.16
7
Turkey
8.08
8
Qatar
8.07
9
Albania
8.03
10
Hungary
7.96
11
Tunisia
7.95
12
Portugal
7.93
13
Greece
7.90
14
Serbia
7.84
15
Bulgaria
7.79
16
Sri Lanka
7.72
17
Morocco
7.70
18
Georgia
7.68
19
Peru
7.63
20
North Macedonia
7.58
* Excluded are countries and territories with relatively few (under 10,000) Kaspersky users.
** Unique users targeted by Malware attacks as a percentage of all unique users of Kaspersky products in the country.
On average during the quarter, 6.36% of internet users’ computers worldwide were subjected to at least one Malware web-based attack.
Local threats
Statistics on local infections of user computers are an important indicator. They include objects that penetrated the target computer by infecting files or removable media, or initially made their way onto the computer in non-open form. Examples of the latter are programs in complex installers and encrypted files.
Data in this section is based on analyzing statistics produced by anti-virus scans of files on the hard drive at the moment they were created or accessed, and the results of scanning removable storage media. The statistics are based on detection verdicts from the On-Access Scan (OAS) and On-Demand Scan (ODS) modules of File Anti-Virus. This includes malware found directly on user computers or on connected removable media: flash drives, camera memory cards, phones, and external hard drives.
In the second quarter of 2025, our File Anti-Virus recorded 23,260,596 malicious and potentially unwanted objects.
Countries and territories where users faced the highest risk of local infection
For each country and territory, we calculated the percentage of Kaspersky users whose devices experienced a File Anti-Virus triggering at least once during the reporting period. This statistic reflects the level of personal computer infection in different countries and territories around the world.
Note that this ranked list includes only attacks by malicious objects classified as Malware. Our calculations leave out File Anti-Virus detections of potentially dangerous or unwanted programs, such as RiskTool or adware.
Country/territory*
%**
1
Turkmenistan
45.26
2
Afghanistan
34.95
3
Tajikistan
34.43
4
Yemen
31.95
5
Cuba
30.85
6
Uzbekistan
28.53
7
Syria
26.63
8
Vietnam
24.75
9
South Sudan
24.56
10
Algeria
24.21
11
Bangladesh
23.79
12
Belarus
23.67
13
Gabon
23.37
14
Niger
23.35
15
Cameroon
23.10
16
Tanzania
22.77
17
China
22.74
18
Iraq
22.47
19
Burundi
22.30
20
Congo
21.84
* Excluded are countries and territories with relatively few (under 10,000) Kaspersky users.
** Unique users on whose computers Malware local threats were blocked, as a percentage of all unique users of Kaspersky products in the country/territory.
Overall, 12.94% of user computers globally faced at least one Malware local threat during the second quarter.
The figure for Russia was 14.27%.
Cyberattackers often view small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) as easier targets, assuming their security measures are less robust than those of larger enterprises. In fact, attacks through contractors, also known as trusted relationship attacks, remain one of the top three methods used to breach corporate networks. With SMBs generally being less protected than large enterprises, this makes them especially attractive to both opportunistic cybercriminals and sophisticated threat actors.
At the same time, AI-driven attacks are becoming increasingly common, making phishing and malware campaigns easier to prepare and quickly adapt, thus increasing their scale. Meanwhile, cybersecurity regulations are tightening, adding more compliance pressure on SMBs.
Improving your security posture has never been more critical. Kaspersky highlights key attack vectors every SMB should be aware of to stay protected.
How malware and potentially unwanted applications (PUAs) are disguised as popular services
Kaspersky analysts have used data from the Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) to explore how frequently malicious and unwanted files and programs are disguised as legitimate applications commonly used by SMBs. The KSN is a system for processing anonymized cyberthreat-related data shared voluntarily by opted-in Kaspersky users. For this research, only data received from the users of Kaspersky solutions for SMBs were analyzed. The research focused on the following applications:
ChatGPT
Cisco AnyConnect
Google Drive
Google Meet
DeepSeek
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Word
Salesforce
Zoom
Between January and April 2025 alone, nearly 8,500 SMB users encountered cyberattacks in which malware or PUAs were disguised as these popular tools.
Among the detected threats, the highest number (1652) of unique malicious and potentially unwanted files mimicked Zoom, the widely used video conferencing platform. This accounted for nearly 41% of all unique files detected, a 14-percentage point increase compared to 2024. Microsoft Office applications remained frequent targets for impersonation: Outlook and PowerPoint each accounted for 16%, Excel for nearly 12%, while Word and Teams made up 9% and 5%, respectively.
Share of unique files with names mimicking the nine most popular legitimate applications in 2024 and 2025 (download)
A comparison of the threat landscape in 2024 and 2025 reveals a clear shift: with the growing popularity of AI services, cyberattackers are increasingly disguising malware as various AI tools. According to our analysis, the number of unique malicious files mimicking ChatGPT grew by 115%, reaching 177 in the first four months of 2025. This contributed to a three-percentage-point increase in the tool’s share among the most mimicked applications. DeepSeek, a large language model launched only in 2025, has immediately appeared on the list of impersonated tools.
Another cybercriminal tactic to watch for in 2025 is the growing use of collaboration platform brands to trick users into downloading or launching malware and PUAs. As mentioned above, the share of threats disguised as Zoom increased by 14 percentage points, reaching 1652 unique files, while Microsoft Teams and Google Drive saw increases of over three and one percentage points, respectively, with 206 and 132 cases. This pattern likely reflects the normalization of remote work and geographically distributed teams, which has made these platforms integral to business operations across industries.
Attackers are clearly leveraging the popularity and credibility of these services to increase the success rate of their campaigns.
Malicious file names mimicking popular services
2024
2025
2025 vs 2024
Zoom
26.24%
40.86%
14.62 p.p.
Microsoft Teams
1.84%
5.10%
3.25 p.p.
ChatGPT
1.47%
4.38%
2.9 p.p.
DeepSeek
0
2.05%
–
Google Drive
2.11%
3.26%
1.15 p.p.
The total number of unique malicious and unwanted files imitating legitimate applications slightly declined year-over-year, from 5,587 in 2024 to 4,043 in 2025.
Main types of threats affecting the SMB Sector, 2025 (download)
The top threats targeting SMBs in 2025 included downloaders, Trojans, and adware.
Leading the list are downloaders, potentially unwanted applications designed to install additional content from the internet, often without clearly informing the user of what’s being downloaded. While not inherently malicious, these tools are frequently exploited by attackers to deliver harmful payloads to victims’ devices.
Trojans ranked next. These are malicious programs that carry out unauthorized actions such as deleting, blocking, modifying, or copying data, or disrupting the normal operation of computers and networks. Trojans are among the most prevalent forms of malware, and cyberattackers continue to use them in a wide range of malicious campaigns.
Adware also made the top three list. These programs are designed to display advertisements on infected computers or substitute a promotional website for the default search engine in a browser. Adware often comes bundled with freeware or shareware, effectively serving as the price for using the free software. In some cases, Trojans silently download and install adware onto the victim’s machine.
Among other common types of threats were DangerousObject, Trojan-Dropper, Backdoor, Trojan-Downloader, HackTool, Trojan-PSW, and PSW-Tool. For instance, we recently identified a campaign involving a Trojan-Downloader called “TookPS“, which was distributed through fake websites imitating legitimate remote access and 3D modeling software.
How scammers and phishers trick victims into giving up accounts and money
We continue to observe a wide range of phishing campaigns and scams targeting SMBs. Attackers aim to steal login credentials for various services, from delivery platforms to banking systems, or manipulate victims into sending them money.
To do this, cyberattackers use a variety of lures, often imitating landing pages from brands commonly used by SMBs. One example is a phishing attempt targeting Google business accounts. The bait lures victims with the promise of promoting their company on X. It requires them to first log in to a dedicated platform using their Google account with credentials that will end up in cyberattackers’ hands.
Another fake landing page impersonated a bank that offered business loans: a “Global Trust Bank”. Since legitimate organizations with that name exist in multiple countries, this phishing attempt may have seemed believable. The attackers tried to lure users with favorable business loan terms – but only after victims submitted their online banking credentials, giving the criminals access to their accounts.
We also saw a range of phishing emails targeting SMBs. In one recent case detected by our systems, the attacker sent a fake notification allegedly from DocuSign, an electronic document-signing service.
SMBs can even find themselves targeted by classic Nigerian scams. In one recent example, the sender claimed to represent a wealthy client from Turkey who wanted to move $33 million abroad to allegedly avoid sanctions, and invited the recipient to handle the funds. In Nigerian scams, fraudsters typically cajole money. They may later request a relatively small payment to a manager or lawyer compared to the amount originally promised.
Beyond these threats, SMBs are bombarded daily with hundreds of spam emails. Some promise attractive deals on email marketing or loans; others offer services like reputation management, content creation, or lead generation. In general, these offers are crafted to reflect the typical needs of small businesses. Not surprisingly, AI has also made its way into the spam folder – with offers to automate various business processes.
We have also seen spammers offering dubious deals like purchasing a database of over 400,000 businesses for $100, supposedly to be used for selling the company’s B2B products, or manipulating reviews on a review platform.
Security tips
SMBs can reduce risks and ensure business continuity by investing in comprehensive cybersecurity solutions and increasing employee awareness. It is essential to implement robust measures such as spam filters, email authentication protocols, and strict verification procedures for financial transactions and the handling of sensitive information.
Another key step toward cyber resilience is promoting awareness about the importance of comprehensive security procedures and ensuring they are regularly updated. Regular security training sessions, strong password practices, and multi-factor authentication can significantly reduce the risk of phishing and fraud.
It is also worth noting that searching for software through search engines is an insecure practice, and should be prohibited in the organization. If you need to implement new tools or replace existing ones, make sure they are downloaded from official sources and installed on a centralized basis by your IT team.
Cybersecurity Action Plan for SMBs
Define access rules for corporate resources such as email accounts, shared folders, and online documents. Monitor and limit the number of individuals with access to critical company data. Keep access lists up to date and revoke access promptly when employees leave the company. Use cloud access security brokers to monitor and control employee activities within cloud services and enforce security policies.
Regularly back up important data to ensure the preservation of corporate information in case of emergencies or cyberincidents.
Establish clear guidelines for using external services and resources. Create well-defined procedures for coordinating specific tasks, such as implementing new software, with the IT department and other responsible managers. Develop short, easy-to-understand cybersecurity guidelines for employees, with a special focus on account and password management, email protection, and safe web browsing. A well-rounded training program will equip employees with the knowledge they need and the ability to apply it in practice.
Implement specialized cybersecurity solutions that provide visibility and control over cloud services, such as Kaspersky Next.
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