A quarterly report for cyber statistics has stated that two companies in particular have become go-to targets for spoofed emails. Due to the continued over-reliance on digital communication, it is our guess that the top companies being chosen for impersonation are the ones that are closely linked with our day-to-day activities.
The top companies getting their emails spoofed
High on the charts is Microsoft. Microsoft’s offerings are a part of nearly a fifth of the cyber attacks in the third quarter of 2020. Being in the fifth position for most spoofed emails in Q2, Microsoft has jumped ranks to occupy the first position in the past quarter. Most of Microsoft’s offerings revolve around messaging and collaboration, which is the most pressing need these days. More and more organizations are looking for collaborative solutions so they can sustain remote work. That’s why it’s not really surprising that this has happened with Microsoft. 19% of the spoofing attacks in the past quarter imitated Microsoft accounts.
Another target for email impersonation is DHL. The notable thing here is that DHL has never before been in the Top 10 list of cyber fraud cases. To go from there directly to the second place is shocking. DHL accounted for 9% of email imitation attacks. Following closely by the heel is Google (also 9%).
Other brands that were majorly impersonated –
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PayPal – 6%.
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Netflix – 6%.
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Facebook – 5%.
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WhatsApp – 5%.
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Apple – 5%.
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Instagram – 4%.
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Amazon – 4%.
Also in the same report, is the titbit that email is behind 44% of phishing attacks.
Do you see a pattern?
It has become obvious that the new lifestyle of workers and individuals alike is under threat. DHL oversees parcel delivery, which suddenly became a critical service in the chaos of lockdown. Google has always dominated the search engine space. But now people are making more searches than ever; some looking for ways to adapt to WFH, some out of sheer boredom. PayPal, and other payment gateways, was bound to get targeted by criminals, what with the sudden boom in digital transactions. The rest of them are entertainment platforms which have squeezed themselves into a major part of the average person’s life.
The takeaway for you? Hackers are going to keep making the most out of changing situations. They will continue to try and misuse tension points to create mail spoofing and phishing opportunities. Fraudsters won’t stay in a particular zone when this happens. Individuals, small enterprises, flourishing businesses… everyone is a target.
User’s needs to be extra careful with their emails on not click on any links without checking them or if they found it suspicious.
Staying aware is one way to stay abreast of cyber security threats. But isn’t it a headache if you need to keep changing your security services to adapt to changing threats? Wouldn’t it be better if you could get your hands on a one-stop solution against email-borne threats?
Get Advanced Email Security – Today
Our Email Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) solution has been exposed to most major phishing and spoofed email threats till date. Block email phishing and spoofing once and for all, so that you don’t have to worry about breaches.