Threat Actors Prefer Archive Files for Deploying Malware Infections

Hackers prefer archive files, not MS Office

Archive files like .zip and .rar formats are now popular ways of distributing malware infections. HP Wolf Security report findings conclude that MS office documents weren’t the most popular file format used in malware attacks. The company’s third-quarter report reveals that archive files showed a 42% attack share, whereas Office recorded a 40% share. 

The report also noticed a sharp rise in popularity for archives, as the formats have seen their usage increase up to 22% since the first quarter of the year. As per the HP Wolf Security team, hackers prefer archive files because they are difficult to detect. 

“Archives are attractive to threat actors because they are easily encrypted, making them difficult for web proxies, sandboxes, and email scanners to detect malware. Moreover, many organizations use encrypted archives for legitimate reasons, making it challenging to reject encrypted archive email attachments by policy,” the report said. 

Rise in HTML Smggling Attacks

Besides the increase in archive files, HP Wolf Security logged a rise in “HTML smuggling” attacks, which, likewise, can escape security measures by using common file types. 

In this case, the user is sent a malicious PDF file containing loads of HTML. When opened, the PDF redirects the use

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