The Grammy award has come and gone, but its fallouts continue to reverberate. Apart from millions of music fans who eagerly awaited the award last Sunday, rooting for their favourite musicians, cybercriminals also sought to cash in.
They actively abused the names of artists and songs nominated for the Grammy 2020 award, to spread malware, with almost 10,000 Nigerians falling victims.
Kaspersky protection technologies disclosed on Thursday that it detected a 39 per cent rise in attacks (attempts to download or run malicious files) under the guise of nominees’ work in 2019, compared to 2018.
The firm’s researchers analysed Grammy 2020 nominated artists’ names and song titles for malware. They found 30,982 malicious files that used the names of artists or their tracks to spread malware, with 41,096 Kaspersky product users having encountered them.
Analysis of the nominated artists showed that the names of Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift and Post Malone were used most to disguise malicious files, with over half (55%) of detected malicious files named after them.
The connection between the rise in popularity and malicious activity is very evident in the case of newer artists such as Billie Eilish. The teenage singer became hugely popular in 2019, and the number of users who downloaded malicious files with her name has risen almost tenfold compared to 2018 – from 254 to 2171, the number of individual distributed malicious files – from 221 to 1,556.
For instance, while the number of users attacked by malware disguised as Billie Eilish songs in Nigeria accounted for only 381 in 2018, 2019 saw this number increase to 9,722. Overall, Nigeria saw 55 of such malicious files distributed in 2019, with 94,630 attacks.
Kaspersky also analysed which records and songs, nominated for a Grammy in 2019, received the most attention from cybercriminals. Post Malone’s ‘Sunflower’, Khalid’s ‘Talk’ and Lil Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road’, led the way for songs with the most malware attacks.
“Cybercriminals understand what is popular and always strive to capitalise on that. Music, alongside TV shows, is one of the most popular types of entertainment and, as a result, an attractive means to spread malware, which criminals readily use. However, as we see more and more users subscribe to streaming platforms, which do not require file download to listen to music, we expect that malicious activity related to this type of content will decrease,” noted Anton Ivanov, Kaspersky security analyst.
To avoid falling victim to malicious programs pretending to be popular music files, Kaspersky recommends taking the following steps:
If you want to listen or download famous artists’ songs, use reputable services like Apple Music, Spotify Premium, and Amazon Music. Or try to find a recognised free music site that allows you to download songs legally.
Try to avoid suspicious links, promising exclusive music content. Check musicians’ official social media accounts or read reputable music blogs like Pitchfork, to make sure that such content exists.
Look at the downloaded file extension. Even if you are going to download an audio or video file from a source you consider trusted and legitimate, the file should have an mp3, .avi, .mkv or .mp4 extension among other music and video formats, definitely not .exe or .lnk.
