Phishing attacks are on the rise. The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) lists phishing as one of the top crimes reported to the agency. These attacks have more than doubled since 2019 and have become more sophisticated in their approach. Gone are the days of the obvious SPAM email. Instead, attackers have mastered the art of convincing content, making it more difficult for employees to know the difference between real and fake.
The facts below may make you think twice before clicking open:
- More than 95% of malware-distributing emails require human interaction such as following links or accepting security warnings. (ENISA Threat Landscape 2020 – Phishing)
- Employees are susceptible to phishing scams. INSUREtrust vendor partner ThreatAdvice’s testing data reveals that 11% of employees click on phishing emails. That might seem low, but imagine the havoc if 11% of your employees opened malicious emails!
- 43% of malicious attachments in 2019 were Microsoft Office documents. (ENISA Threat Landscape 2020 – Phishing)
- Display name deception has become a prominent way to impersonate trusted individuals within or outside an organization. 62.6% of all identity-deception-based attacks leveraged display name deception.(1H 2021: Email Fraud and Identity Deception Trends by Agari)
- The word “payment” shows up in 32.5% of all attack email subjects. (ENISA Threat Landscape 2020 – Phishing)
INSUREtrust’s, ASSUREtrust CyberSecure can provide you and your clients with free security services to help manage cyber risks. Through a partnership with ThreatAdvice, we can provide a results-oriented approach to mitigating your email and phishing risks utilizing:
PHISHING TEST FOR ALL YOUR EMPLOYEES
Send up to 500 employees an email message mimicking real-world malicious messages.
EMAIL EXPOSURE SCAN
ThreatAdvice will scan social media sites and other sources to calculate your risk levels.
SOURCES: Comparitech | 300+ Terrifying Cybercrime and Cybersecurity Statistics & Trends (2021 EDITION)
Follow these tips to avoid getting hooked:
Two of the biggest vulnerabilities cyberattackers take advantage of are email accounts and web browsers. Ensure you’re taking the necessary precautions to stay cyber safe by reading on for tips on the best practices for keeping your computer secure.