Source: NordVPN
According to new research by the cybersecurity company NordVPN, over 83 million malware incidents have been recorded in 2024 in New Zealand, emphasizing the growing cybersecurity threats.
Internet users should be extra careful when clicking links seemingly sent by Big Tech companies – there’s quite a big chance it might be a deliberately misspelled phishing link. Data shows that Google, Facebook, and Microsoft are the top three brands most likely to be impersonated for credential harvesting.
“In fact, the majority of all phishing attacks use around 300 brand names for deception. The brands themselves are not at fault – such fakes hurt their reputation as well, forcing companies to actively hunt them down. However, high brand awareness can lull victims into a false sense of security and get them to lower their guard,” says Adrianus Warmenhoven, a cybersecurity advisor at NordVPN.
According to the same research, last year there were almost 85,000 fake URLs that impersonate Google websites and services. With more than 6,000 fake URLs online, Facebook takes second place as the scammers’ favorite. Microsoft is in third place, with almost 5,000 fake URLs. Fake AT&T, Yahoo!, and Netflix links should be evaluated more carefully as well. In each of those cases there were around 4,000 fake URLs online.
New Zealand experienced more than 83 million malware incidents in 2024 – the second number in Oceania, with Australia leading the region with more than 351 million incidents per year.
An array of security threats
Data analysed by NordVPN suggest you should also stay away from free video hosting sites (yes, that includes anime hosting websites) and a few other categories. Throughout 2024, NordVPN’s Threat Protection Pro™ feature blocked more than 1.5 billion malware infection attempts on video hosting sites. Other domain categories with the most malware are: entertainment (almost 1 billion malware blocked) and sports (124 million). Just a little behind are adult content sites (109 million malware blocked) and file sharing and storage websites (almost 74 million).
“The above mentioned categories, free video hosting sites in particular, tend to contain a variety of security and privacy threats. Not only malware, but intrusive ads and trackers as well. Over the past year, Threat Protection Pro™ blocked almost 7 billion ads and more than 119 billion trackers on video hosting sites alone. This accounts for 25% off all blocked trackers by Threat Protection Pro™ in 2024,” says Adrianus Warmenhoven.
Know your enemy
Web trackers are a broad category of privacy-invading tools that collect information on user activity. Trackers typically take the form of special scripts, browser cookies, or tracking pixels. Businesses use trackers to paint an accurate picture of you for targeted advertising – but if they suffer a data breach, the stored tracker data could end up falling into the hands of cybercriminals.
Warmenhoven adds that websites often share or sell data collected by trackers to third parties. Those who want to protect their privacy can use several tools to become less trackable, such as tracker blockers, which prevent websites and advertisers from collecting data about your online activity.
Malware refers to any kind of programming that was deliberately designed to harm you or your device. This includes malicious software like viruses, trojans, ransomware, and spyware. Malware can steal sensitive data, encrypt important files, or even take over the machine, putting the criminal in complete control.
“It is important to know that malware must be actively brought onto your device, such as by downloading an infected file. One of the most common ways to get infected with malware is through phishing attacks. Scammers use deceptive misspellings of popular brands (such as spelling “Amazon” as “Arnazon”) to trick victims into clicking phishing links and downloading infected files. So you should always check the spelling before clicking,” notes Warmenhoven.
Intrusive advertising refers to ads that actively interfere with your online experience. Intrusive ads aren’t content to just stay on the sidelines – they may distract you by popping up randomly while you’re scrolling, open additional browser tabs, hog bandwidth with lengthy videos, or even hijack the page you’re on. Even worse, some intrusive ads may try to infect your device or redirect you to malicious websites.
Cybersecurity expert advice on how to protect yourself
To protect yourself from common cybersecurity threats like malware, trackers, and intrusive ads, Adrianus Warmenhoven advises to take these precautions:
Avoid a “free lunch.” Certain web domain categories are much more likely to host malware that could compromise your device than others. One of the most prominent categories is free video hosting sites.
Be wary of unsolicited emails and messages. Phishing scams are one of the main methods used by criminals to steal personal and financial data. Emails promising too-good-to-be-true promotions, invitations, or gifts, are probably not true. Messages asking you to update your data or just click on a link may also be versions of phishing.
Don’t get scared and check the links. Cybercriminals prey on confusion and ignorance. They try to scare people, hoping that victims will act on emotion. Don’t do that. Try not to click on links that try to scare you or promise you riches – check the spelling first.
Verify downloads. Malware executables may be disguised as or hidden in legitimate files. Always verify the website you want to download from, and always use anti-malware tools like Threat Protection Pro™ to inspect the files you download.
Limit data exposure. Information such as location, full name, and other personal details can be used by criminals for scams and cyberattacks. Adjust your privacy settings and avoid sharing sensitive data publicly, such as on social networks.
Keep your devices updated. Outdated software is an easy target for cyberattacks. Make sure to keep your operating system, applications, and antivirus software up to date to fix vulnerabilities and ensure greater protection.
Methodology: The statistics mentioned above were acquired by analyzing aggregated data gathered by NordVPN’s Threat Protection Pro™ service from January 1, 2024 to January 1, 2025. NordVPN is not endorsed by, maintained, sponsored by, affiliated, or in any way associated with the owners of the mentioned brands. Brands are indicated solely for the purpose of accurately reporting information related to brands that were most likely to be impersonated for spreading malware.
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NordVPN is the world’s most advanced VPN service provider, used by millions of internet users worldwide. NordVPN provides double VPN encryption and Onion Over VPN and guarantees privacy with zero tracking. One of the key features of the product is Threat Protection™, which blocks malicious websites, malware during downloads, trackers, and ads. The latest service by the Nord Security team is Saily — a new global eSIM. NordVPN is very user friendly, offers one of the best prices on the market, and has over 6,200 servers covering 111 countries worldwide. For more information: https://nordvpn.com.
