Cybersecurity specialist Kaspersky blocked more than 500 million attempts to access fraudulent pages in 2022 alone. Phishing remains more than ever a widespread cyber threat, which is almost part of our daily lives.
Thanks to its anti-phishing device, Kaspersky managed to block half a billion redirect attempts to pirate websites last year. These contained attacks, which only come from a single publisher (and are therefore much more important in reality), were twice as numerous in 2022 as in 2021. Cybercriminals are increasingly using email, delivery services or even cryptocurrency platforms to carry out their phishing attempts.
Delivery services increasingly used by hackers to trick their victims
If technically phishing and spam attacks are not the most impressive, they remain very dangerous for uninformed Internet users and mobile users, who are more prone to social engineering tactics. The proof is with the 507.85 million attempts to access fraudulent pages blocked by Karspersky in 2022.
Cybercriminal actors remain mobilized and motivated by the idea of making more and more victims, by imitating (with more or less precision) legitimate sites to redirect them to phishing web pages, which then make it possible to recover private data. (personal and banking) of users and companies, or encourage them to transfer money, when it is not a donation.
Delivery service users are prime targets for phishing attacks. They represent 27% of the 500 million blocked attempts. Here, the scammers send an email to the potential victim, pretending to be a delivery company, for example Chronopost, telling them that there is a problem with the delivery. The email contains a link that then redirects the target to a fake website, which asks for their banking or personal information, to unblock the situation. Besides delivery players, online stores (15.5%), payment systems (10%) and banks (10%) are other important vectors for phishing attacks.
New vectors for phishing attacks
The phishing attempt as such is not very serious. Falling into the trap, on the other hand, can lead to multiple consequences. One thinks in particular of the usurpation of the identity of the victim, which results from the sale of personal data recovered on the dark web.
The year 2022 has nevertheless brought new trends to the fore in terms of phishing. It is not uncommon now to see attempts made through instant messaging. Kaspersky blocked many attempts from WhatsApp (82.71%), Telegram (14.12%) and Viber (3.17%) last year.
Not very far from messaging, social networks are also increasingly solicited by cybercriminals, who manage more easily to arouse the curiosity of Internet users, by offering them, for example, false updates or verified account statuses for the various networks.
” Phishing pages, which are the gateway to many of the worst cyber threats, are the first step in a long chain of events that can lead to identity theft, financial loss and reputational damage. both for individuals and companies “Reacted Olga Svistunova, security expert at Kaspersky, who invites you to remain vigilant and not to click on links from senders who do not inspire you with full confidence.
2