Pandemic triggers surge in phishing attacks

New data has shed light on the growing threat of cyber attacks in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.

OpenText has released the 2021 Webroot BrightCloud Threat Report, which drew from over 285 million real-world endpoints and sensors to identify cyber security trends over the course of 2020.

A COVID-induced surge in phishing attacks was reported over the first few months of the year, up 510 per cent in January and February alone.

EBay, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Google were identified as the top five targets of phishing activity.

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In March, phishing activity spiked among streaming services YouTube (3,064 per cent), Netflix (525 per cent) and Twitch (337 per cent).

The report also found that by the end of 2020, 54 per cent of phishing sites used HTTPs, most commonly spoofing cryptocurrency exchanges, ISPs, and gaming.

Other findings identified in the report include:

1 per cent of malware was unique to a single PC;
At 2.3 per cent, Japan had the lowest PC infection rate per region, followed by the UK (2.7 per cent), Australasia (3.2 per cent) and North America (3.7 per cent);
Consumer devices saw twice as many malware infections when compared with business devices; and
Of the total threats detected on Android devices in 2020, Trojans and malware accounted for 95.9 per cent, an increase from 92.2 per cent in 2019.

“[This] year’s Threat Report clearly shows how cyber criminals are willing and able to evolve their tactics to exploit collective human interest and current events,” Prentiss Donohue, executive vice president, SMB/C sales at OpenText, said.

“The findings underscore the need for users and businesses of all sizes to enact a multi-layered approach to data security and protection given the persistent creativity of cyber criminals.”

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Charbel Kadib

News Editor – Defence and Security, Momentum Media

Prior to joining the defence and aerospace team in 2020, Charbel was news editor of The Adviser and Mortgage Business, where he covered developments in the banking and financial services sector for three years. Charbel has a keen interest in geopolitics and international relations, graduating from the University of Notre Dame with a double major in politics and journalism. Charbel has also completed internships with The Australian Department of Communications and the Arts and public relations agency Fifty Acres

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Pandemic triggers surge in phishing attacks

Charbel Kadib

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