Published on: August 31, 2024
Gmail users, Facebook posters, and Amazon shoppers need to stay alert and closely monitor their accounts as phishing attacks surged in early 2024.
The new data comes from the team at Kaspersky, which analysed 25 major global brands. Researchers discovered around 26 million attempts to access malicious sites posing as these popular brands in the first half of 2024 alone.
This marks a sharp increase of about 40% compared to the same period in 2023, highlighting a growing trend in online threats.
Google faced the brunt of the phishing surge, with online attacks more than tripling compared to last year. Kaspersky’s security solutions blocked around 4 million of these phishing attempts in the first 6 months of 2024.
“This year has seen a significant increase in phishing attempts targeting Google,” said Olga Svistunova, a security expert at Kaspersky. She highlighted how gaining access to a Gmail account “can potentially access multiple services, making it a prime target.”
Facebook and Amazon followed closely behind — Facebook users experienced 3.7 million phishing attempts, while Amazon users faced 3 million.
Kaspersky attributes the sharp rise in phishing attacks to a surge in fraudulent activities rather than a drop in user caution. “Cybercriminals are becoming more aggressive in their pursuit of users’ data and money,” the security firm noted.
Rounding out the top 10 most targeted brands were Microsoft, DHL, PayPal, Mastercard, Apple, Netflix, and Instagram.
“Phishing for Mastercard, typically aimed at stealing money, has likely risen alongside the proliferation of fake online shops pretending to sell goods and offering checkout options with allegedly Mastercard,” Svistunova said.
“Interestingly, Microsoft experienced a decline in clicks on phishing resources. Since this brand is frequently targeted for corporate credentials phishing, the decrease may be attributed to improved cyber literacy in various organizations. DHL has also seen a decline, which is a common trend among several transport and logistics brands we analyzed,” she added.