Malwarebytes, a provider of advanced endpoint protection and remediation solutions, announced the findings of its annual “State of Malware” report. The latest report explores how the global pandemic forced many employees to quickly become a remote workforce and confined consumers to their homes. In the wake of this change, cybercriminals ditched many of their old tactics, placing a new emphasis on gathering intelligence, and exploiting and preying upon fears with targeted and sophisticated attacks. As a result, the State of Malware Report found a notable shift in the devices targeted and strategies deployed by cybercriminals.

2020 ushered in several high-profile cybersecurity incidents including: Marriott’s breach with 5.2 million impacted guests; high-profile account hacks on Twitter—which included former President Barack Obama, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk; and the far reaching impacts of the nation-state attack on FireEye and SolarWinds executed through the supply chain. These attacks underscore just how vulnerable even the most secure organizations or individuals are when targeted by determined and skilled cybercriminals. The year also saw concerning trends for consumers including a staggering rise in the use of stalkerware, the invasive mobile monitoring and spyware apps that can rob individuals of their expectation of and right to privacy. Malwarebytes’ found that the use of applications that monitor user activity—which include all tracking applications —rose from January to December by 565 percent, while spyware app detections rose across the same period by 1,055 percent.