A new analysis of attacks in 2021 shows massive increases across the board, painting a very concerning picture for 2022 cyberattacks of all types.
New data from security vendor PhishLabs in their Quarterly Threat Trends & Intelligence Report, covering all of 2021 provides a better sense of what last year's state of cyberattacks looked like, and unveils that the increases in efforts by cybercriminals that we saw throughout 2021 looks like they're here to stay for the time-being.
According to the report:
- Phishing attacks grew 28%
- Social Media-based threats grew by 103%
- Attacks with malware nearly tripled
- Vishing attacks (https://us.norton.com/internetsecurity-online-scams-vishing.html) (combinations of phishing emails and phone calls) jumped 554%
- 52% of phishing attacks focused on credential theft
- 38% of phishing attacks are response-based (e.g., job scams, tech support, BEC)
- Only 10% focused on malware delivery
The overarching theme here is email is the delivery mechanism of choice – because it works. Keeping in mind that with only 10% of attacks focused on malware delivery (and a portion of those using malicious links instead of attachments), some percentage of malicious phishing emails will make their way to your Inbox. We use layered security on our email system, but really you are the best defense. Emails should be viewed with a sense of vigilance and skepticism - looking for something unexpected, suspicious or otherwise out of the norm.
Be particularly wary of calls you might receive from individuals claiming to be from your bank or an email asking you to call a number . Recently scammers were spoofing (making fake emails) from Amazon like this one:
Callers reported speaking to someone who then attempts to direct them to a web site in order to input more information. This could be an elaborate credentials theft attempt or a way to install a remote access Trojan on you computer - allowing bad actors any number of possibilities (key stroke logging of passwords for example).
With email being such a large attack surface, we’ve enabled two factor authentication (2FA) on our Google environment. To help keep your email secure, we recommend enabling 2FA on your email account. For step by step directions on enabling that go here: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/185839?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid.
The increased need to pay attention to security also comes in the wake of the Russian aggression in Ukraine. A recent press announcement by the White House (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/03/21/statement-by-president-biden-on-our-nations-cybersecurity/) suggests a the likelihood of larger state-actor threats coming towards the U.S. this year.
For up-to-date cyber information on the threat Russia poses, please see CISA Shields Up program website: https://www.cisa.gov/shields-up