Figures for the second quarter of 2013 by Alcatel-Lucent’s Kindsight subsidiary have revealed an increase in malicious software or “malware” used by hackers to gain access to devices for corporate espionage, spying on individuals, theft of personal information, generating massive quantities of spam, denial of service attacks on business and governments and millions of Euros in fraudulent banking and advertising scams.

Due to the unique position of Alcatel-Lucent’s network security and analytic products within service provider networks, it can measure the impact of traffic types traversing the network, including malicious and cyber-security threats.

The latest Kindsight Security Labs Malware Quarterly Report found that 10% of home networks and over 0.5% of mobile devices were infected with malware, both increases from the previous quarter.

Other highlights of the report include:

6 percent of home networks exhibited high-level threats, such as ‘bots’, ‘rootkits’ and ‘Trojan’ banking viruses – all types of malware infecting computers, computer programs and applications running on computers.

The ZeroAccess botnet continues to be the most common malware threat, infecting 0.8 percent of broadband users.

In mobile networks, the vast majority of infected devices are either Android™ phones or Windows™ laptops tethered to a phone on connected directly through a mobile USB stick or MIFI hub.

Mobile malware continues to grow with a sixfold increase in the number of Android malware samples.

Malware and cybersecurity threats continue to be a growing problem for home networks and mobile devices, particularly for Android smartphones and tablets which are increasingly targeted,” said Kevin McNamee, security architect and director of Alcatel-Lucent’s Kindsight Security Labs. “Users often don’t take the appropriate security precautions for their mobile devices, and even when they do a malicious app can easily evade detection by device-based anti-virus.”

The report also includes the top 20 home network infections and Internet threats, as well as analysis of malware developments, including ZeroAccess, Alureon, the Zeus banking Trojan, Uapush, QDPlugin, and others.

The Kindsight Security Labs report also includes information on the rise of mobile spyware as a threat to the BYOD (bring your own device) trend in workplaces. To demonstrate how a smartphone can become a cyber-espionage device, McNamee said Kindsight has developed a proof-of-concept spy-phone software module that can be injected into just about any Android application. From a remote web based command center the attacker can:

Track the phone’s location

Download contact lists and personal information

Intercept and send messages

Record conversations

Take pictures

Alcatel-Lucent will demonstrate the risks of a mobile spyphone at the Black Hat 2013 security event event in Las Vegas, July 27-August 1.

Helpful links:

Blog: Android Phones Playing “I Spy” at Work and at HomeKindsight Security Labs Malware Quarterly Report

ABOUT ALCATEL-LUCENT (EURONEXT PARIS AND NYSE: ALU)

Alcatel-Lucent is at the forefront of global communications, providing products and innovations in IP and cloud networking, as well as ultra-broadband fixed and wireless access to service providers and their customers, enterprises and institutions throughout the world.

Underpinning Alcatel-Lucent in driving the industrial transformation from voice telephony to high-speed digital delivery of data, video and information is Bell Labs, an integral part of Alcatel-Lucent and one of the world’s foremost technology research institutes, responsible for countless breakthroughs that have shaped the networking and communications industry. Alcatel-Lucent innovations have resulted in the company being recognized by Thomson Reuters as a Top 100 Global Innovator, as well as being named by MIT Technology Review as amongst 2012’s Top 50 “World’s Most Innovative Companies”. Alcatel-Lucent has also been recognized for innovation in sustainability, being ranked Technology Supersector Leader by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index in 2012 for making global communications more sustainable, affordable and accessible, all in pursuit of the company’s mission to realize the potential of a connected world.

With revenues of Euro 14.4 billion in 2012, Alcatel-Lucent is listed on the Paris and New York stock exchanges (Euronext and NYSE: ALU). The company is incorporated in France and headquartered in Paris.

For more information, visit Alcatel-Lucent on: http://www.alcatel-lucent.com, read the latest posts on the Alcatel-Lucent blog http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/blog and follow the Company on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Alcatel_Lucent.