Phishing Attacks Smash All Records in Q3 2021 With the Highest Monthly Number of Attacks Ever

New data shows the business of phishing is moving “up and to the right” in nearly every way measurable, indicating a serious problem as threat actors continue to see growing success.

Most businesses love to see charts moving up and to the right when the topic is number of customers, revenue, or profit. But when it comes to phishing attacks, seeing a hockey stick on a chart is VERY bad news.

According to the Anti-Phishing Working Group’s latest Phishing Activity Trends Report for Q3 2021, it appears that phishing is very much trending on the rise:

• July saw a peak number of 260,642 unique phishing attacks
• The number of brands attacked peaked at 715 in September
• SaaS and Webmail continue to be the primary target at 29% of all phishing attacks

To make the trending point, check out these charts from the report:

Source: APWG

You can clearly see the increasing trend showing phishing is expanding. And, as we expect phishing to continue to grow in use and effectiveness, it’s that much more imperative that organizations protect themselves at the most critical point in a phishing attack – user engagement. If users undergo Security Awareness Training, the likelihood of them clicking on malicious links and attachments is drastically reduced,