ESET Threat Report H1 2025

From novel social engineering techniques to sophisticated mobile threats and major infostealer disruptions, the threat landscape in the first half of 2025 was anything but boring.

One of the most striking developments this period was the emergence of ClickFix, a new, deceptive attack vector that skyrocketed by over 500% compared to H2 2024 in ESET telemetry. Now the second most common attack vector after phishing, ClickFix manipulates internet users into executing malicious commands under the guise of fixing a fake error. The payloads at the end of ClickFix attacks vary widely – from infostealers to ransomware and even to nation-state malware – making this a versatile and formidable threat across Windows, Linux, and macOS.

The infostealer landscape also saw significant shifts. With Agent Tesla fading into obsolescence, SnakeStealer (also known as Snake Keylogger) surged ahead, becoming the most detected infostealer in our telemetry. Meanwhile, ESET contributed to major disruption operations targeting Lumma ...