According to recent research from Kaspersky, the number of worldwide phishing attacks detected by Kaspersky hit 129.9 million during the second quarter of 2019.
- During the most recent quarter, the average percentage of spam in global mail traffic hit 57.6%, up 1.67 percentage points from the previous year’s quarter
- The largest share of spam was seen in May at 58.7%
- Banks received the greatest percentage of phishing emails at 30.7%, followed by payment systems at 20.1%, global Internet portals at 18%, and social networks at 9%
- As usual, spammers and cybercriminals used seasonal events and topics in the news to catch the attention and interest of potential victims. With tax refunds reaching many people during the second quarter, spammers focused on this subject.
This research highlights the enormous problem that organisations are facing in the form of increased phishing attacks and not enough awareness training. Attackers are always looking for new ways by which they can trick users into clicking links and – due to their success – the increase in sophisticated phishing attacks is no surprise. These statistics show how humans are still recognised as the weakest link in the cybersecurity landscape and it is, therefore, increasingly important that adequate training is given to users so that they can best identify such attacks and not click through on links and – in particular- not enter in their credentials.