Previous analysis places Peru, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and Colombia among the countries with the highest malware activity in the region. Although each market has its own particular characteristics, the research identifies threats that appear recurrently in several territories.
This consistency may indicate that certain campaigns, techniques, or criminal infrastructures are being used regionally.
A Recurring Threat Map
In Peru, the main detections include Tofsee, PDF phishing, and Rugmi, while Mexico shows a strong presence of Rugmi, phishing, and banking trojans.
Argentina shows detections related to Rugmi, exploits, and HTML phishing. In Brazil, threats associated with banking trojans predominate, while Colombia presents a combination of downloaders, phishing, and malware such as Kryptik.
Beyond the differences between countries, there is a common element: malware continues to use relatively well-known techniques to gain initial access and prepare subsequent attacks.
The Role of Downloaders
One of the most interesting patterns are the recurring presence of Rugmi, used as a downloader.
A downloader does not necessarily represent the final stage of an attack. Its function can be to prepare the environment, assess whether the compromised device is suitable, and subsequently download other malicious payloads.
This strategy offers an advantage to the attacker: separating initial access from the final payload can make it difficult for security teams to quickly determine what happened and what the attack's objective was.
This also changes how organizations should interpret a sign of compromise.
A device that initially appears to present a limited threat could later become the entry point for a much more complex operation.
Phishing Remains a Gateway
Another recurring pattern in the region is the detection of phishing campaigns distributed via PDF and HTML files.
Their presence in several countries demonstrates that it is not always necessary to develop a completely new technique to compromise an organization. Known campaigns can continue to be effective when they find vulnerable users, devices, or systems.
Therefore, prevention should not depend solely on identifying a specific malware family.
The ability to recognize the risk context of the device and digital behavior is also fundamental.
Vulnerability Is Not Always New
One of the most striking cases identified in the analysis is the detection of CVE-2012-0143, a vulnerability more than a decade old associated with Microsoft Office products, which continues to appear in the region's telemetry.
This demonstrates that the age of a vulnerability does not necessarily determine its relevance.
When there are outdated systems, weak configurations, or insufficient controls, known vulnerabilities can continue to provide opportunities for attackers.
The attack surface, therefore, is not determined solely by the latest threats, but also by what organizations still leave exposed.
From Malware to Digital Risk
Regional analysis leads to an important conclusion: protecting a digital channel requires observing more than just the malware attempting to infiltrate it.
A compromised device can become the source of credential theft, account takeover, session manipulation, or financial fraud.
That's why a modern strategy needs to combine different layers of security: device protection, session monitoring, behavioral analysis, and transaction risk assessment. Malware detection can be the first indicator. True prevention begins when that signal connects with the rest of the digital context.
Stay One Step Ahead of Fraud