New data shows the bad guys have been working diligently to step up their game on both the front and back end of phishing attacks, despite still being mid-pandemic.
As we move towards the end of the calendar year, we’re all wondering what next year is going to hold. If this latest phishing trend data is any indication, next year is going to prove to be the year of the “phish.”
According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group’s Phishing Activity Trends Report for the 3rd quarter of 2020, phishing attacks are materially on the rise:
- Q3 saw 572K unique websites used for phishing purposes. This is a 115% increase from the 3rd quarter last year and 289% increase from Q2 of this year.
- Q3 saw 367K unique phishing campaigns, over triple the 118K seen the same time last year and 128K in Q2 of this year
Interestingly the number of brands targeted by phishing campaigns rose, but not as sharply as the number of websites and campaigns. In Q3, there were over 1500 brands targeted, only up 21% from 1283 in Q3 of last year.
One of the most effective ways to thwart phishing attacks is to educate the user via Security Awareness Training on the current methods, social engineering tactics, and campaign themes so users can easily spot a potentially harmful email and avoid engaging with it and assisting in its’ success.
