Phishing Attacks Increase 41 Percent in the Second Quarter of 2017
Charleston, South Carolina (PRWEB) September 20, 2017 -- PhishLabs, the leading provider of 24/7 managed security services that protect against phishing attacks, today announced the release of its Phishing Trends & Intelligence Report for the second quarter of 2017. Phishing attack volume was 41 percent higher in the second quarter than it was in the first quarter.
Additional key findings of the Q2 2017 Phishing Trends & Intelligence Report include:
• The volume of phishing attacks targeting the financial industry nearly doubled in Q2 and is the largest quarterly volume PhishLabs has ever observed.
• Nearly 88% of attacks in the second quarter targeted five industries: financial institutions, webmail/online services, payment services, cloud storage/file hosting services, and e-commerce companies.
• The volume of attacks targeting SaaS platforms increased 104% quarter-over-quarter, doubling the total volume of SaaS platform attacks observed in all of 2016.
• The volume of attacks targeting social networking sites increased 70% quarter-over-quarter, exceeding the total volume of social networking attacks observed in all of 2016.
• Phishing attacks targeting cloud storage providers continued to decline in Q2, signaling a clear shift in targets by phishers.
• The usage of “Secure” phishing sites hosted using SSL certificates is becoming more common, growing from just 1% to 13% of overall phishing volume in the last year.
• Padding URLs with hyphens to obscure phishing domains in mobile browsers is an emerging tactic that is growing quickly in popularity.
The full report is available at https://info.phishlabs.com/q2_2017_phishing_trends_and_-intelligence_report.
“The activity in Q2 shows a thriving and volatile phishing threat landscape,” said PhishLabs VP of Threat Research Joseph Opacki. “Several organizations saw huge swings in how frequently they were targeted in Q2, which is why it’s important to monitor these threats closely and be prepared to take immediate action.”
The information and analysis contained in the report is sourced directly from the company’s 24/7 operations and technologies used to fight back against phishing attacks. In the second quarter of 2017, PhishLabs analyzed more than 210,100 confirmed malicious phishing sites hosted on more than 61,000 unique domains.
On Thursday, September 28, PhishLabs is hosting a live webinar discussing the findings of the Q2 2017 Phishing Trends & Intelligence Report. To register, go to https://info.phishlabs.com/2017-q2-phishing-trends-intelligence-report-webinar.
About PhishLabs
Founded in 2008, PhishLabs provides 24/7 managed security services that protect against phishing attacks. PhishLabs is the only company that protects organizations against phishing attacks that target their customers and employees. The company analyzes millions of potential phishing attacks every day, providing global visibility and insight into the phishing threat landscape. PhishLabs’ experts use this visibility and insight to manage phishing awareness training programs, completely mitigate phishing attacks, and provide impactful threat intelligence. Top financial, healthcare, and technology companies rely on PhishLabs to avoid fraud losses, security incidents, and data breaches due to phishing attacks.
To learn more, visit http://www.phishlabs.com and follow @phishlabs.
Stacy Shelley, PhishLabs, http://www.phishlabs.com, +1 (843) 329-7824, [email protected]
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