According to its Q3 IT Threat Evolution report, Kaspersky Lab has said that exploits for Adobe Flash Player and Internet Explorer are most popular with cybercriminals in Nigeria.

It noted that in the third quarter of 2015 overall 45.3% of Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) participants in Nigeria encountered malware that spread in local networks, via USBs and storage disks, while 13.8% faced cyber threats emanating from the Internet.

"This puts the country on the 64th and 128th place worldwide by the percentage of users who encountered the two types of malware," Kaspersky Lab said in the report.

In the quarter under review, the IT security company detected and repelled a total of 235.4 million malicious attacks from online resources located all over the world.

"Kaspersky Lab's web antivirus detected 38.2 million unique malicious objects: scripts, exploits, executable files, etc. - this is 46.9% higher than in Q2. There were 5.68 million registered notifications about attempted malware infections that aim to steal money via online access to bank accounts," it said.

323,374 new malicious mobile programs in Q3 representing a 10.8% increase on Q2 of 2015 and 3.1 fold increase since Q1 of 2015, according to the Report.

It added that displaying adverts to users is still the main mobile threat monetisation strategy, noting a growing number of programs that used advertising in this way.

"They often root the device of a victim and use superuser privileges, making it very difficult to combat them. In Q3 2015, these Trojans accounted for more than half the most popular mobile malware," Kaspersky Lab stated.

Within the same period, it said its solutions blocked almost 626,000 attempts to launch malware capable of stealing money via access to users' online banking, although the figures represent 17.2% reduction compared to those from Q2 of 2015 - but a 5.7% increase since Q3 2014.

"The developments in Q3 demonstrate that the global threat landscape is continuing to evolve at a fast pace. Malicious mobile programs are on the rise, and with 5.6 million cases of attempted theft from online bank accounts, and cybercriminals continually developing sophisticated attacks, the use of high quality cybersecurity products has never been more important. It's vital that all those using the Internet – both individuals and organisations - protect themselves from these growing threats," says David Emm, Principal Senior Security Researcher at Kaspersky Lab's Global Research and Analysis team.