New research from IBM shows four reasons why phishing attacks are still effective and remains the primary attack vector in 41% of cyberattacks.
Phishing has been around since the 1990’s and yet it still works today. And despite security solutions blocking most phishing emails, the ones that do get through to the Inbox remain an effective tool for threat actors.
But why?
I’ll cut right to the chase – it works. Cybercriminals today follow the simple rule of “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.” In other words, stick to what works.
According to IBM Security, there are four reasons why phishing continues to prevail today:
- Remote work heightens email’s use as a primary communication medium.
- Cybercriminals are using email in conjunction with voice to increase message believability and scam credibility.
- Cybercrime-as-a-Service is booming, giving even the least experienced cybercriminal professional access, tools, and malware to accomplish their attacks.
- Current security training efforts aren’t frequent enough and simply aren’t getting it done.
The interesting part of IBM’s four reasons is that they all can be addressed by an organization implementing continual Security Awareness Training that teaches users specifically to be mindful of phishing and social engineering attacks, staying abreast of current attack trends and methods, so that – should they themselves come across a phishing attack – they can render it useless.
