Small businesses are three times more likely to be targeted than larger organizations. Barracuda Releases XNUMXth Spear Phishing Report: Microsoft is the Most Mimicked Brand Name.
Which companies are most likely to be at risk of spear phishing attacks, what new tricks are cybercriminals using, and what is the number of email accounts that have been compromised in the recent past? Barracuda's seventh current Spear Phishing Report: Top Threats and Trends Vol. 7 answers these questions, explains the latest spear phishing trends and what companies can do with which technologies to improve their email security.
Evaluation of the year 2021
Between January and December 2021, Barracuda analysts examined millions of emails from thousands of companies.
The most important findings from the report
- An average employee at a small business with fewer than 100 employees will experience 350 percent more social engineering attacks than an employee at a larger company.
- Conversation hijacking increased by almost 2021 percent in 270.
- 51 percent of social engineering attacks are phishing attacks.
- Microsoft is the most impersonated brand name, used in 57 percent of phishing attacks.
- One in five companies had an account compromised in 2021.
- Cyber criminals compromised approximately 2021 Microsoft 500.000 accounts in 365.
- One in three malicious logins to compromised accounts came from Nigeria.
- Cyber criminals sent three million messages from 12.000 compromised accounts.
Barracuda's Spear Phishing Report #7 (Image: Barracuda).
"Small businesses often have fewer resources and less security expertise, making them more vulnerable to spear phishing attacks," said Don MacLennan, senior vice president of Engineering & Product Management, Email Protection, Barracuda. "That's why it's important for companies of all sizes to invest in their IT security, both in technology and in employee training. The damage from a successful attack or a compromised account can be significantly more costly.”
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Via Barracuda Networks Striving to make the world a safer place, Barracuda believes that every business should have access to cloud-enabled, enterprise-wide security solutions that are easy to purchase, implement and use. Barracuda protects email, networks, data and applications with innovative solutions that grow and adapt as the customer journey progresses. More than 150.000 companies worldwide trust Barracuda to help them focus on growing their business. For more information, visit www.barracuda.com.