Emotet Botnet Found to Be The Largest Most Email-Based Threats in Q1 2019

Emotet, a multifunctional botnet malware was the most prevalent email-based threat in the first three months of the year, which makes it clear that it is one of the most preferred choices among cybercriminals.

According to Proofpoint antivirus, Emotet has become the go-to botnet service for the cybercriminals which they use to spread the malware to many victims.

Starting off as a banking malware, Emotet developed into a tool that can send out spam messages and distribute other threats on the systems it compromises.

61% of malicious payloads delivered via email were botnets, all detected as Emotet, says the statistics from Proofpoint.

The other threats detected by Proofpoint are banking trojans at a distant second place, followed by credential stealers, downloaders, and remote access trojans (RATs).

"Banking Trojans made up only 21% of malicious payloads in Q1," informs the report, adding that along with Emotet, the two threats accounted for 82% of all email-borne malware.