Increase in Data and Information Stealing Phishing Attacks [2018]

The rise in Credential-Sniffing Phishing Attacks of 2018

Phishing attacks have grown over the past few years but, it now appears that cyberattackers are repeatedly launching these tricky attacks to scoop up the credentials and personal information.

Previously, the sole motive behind these attacks was to infect victims’ devices with viruses and malware. But, now the attacks are mainly focussed on stealing credentials.

From a report, “State of the Phish,” it was found that tens of millions phishing emails were sent globally in a year between Oct. 2017 and Sept. 2018. 83% of the email respondents experienced many phishing attacks in 2018 which was 5 % more from the year 2017.

These stats could give you a surprise, but last year phishing led several massive hacks and data breaches. For example, in December 2018 San Diego Unified School data breach in California exposed 5,00,000 staff members, students and parents.

However, security experts and professionals identified an active social engineering landscape in the year 2018. According to reports, 96% of attacks from malware and viruses were due to phishing.

Out of which, 49% of respondents said, “They experienced voice mail phishing.” Voice phishing use social engineering on the phone and tries to gain access over the personal data. We call it SMS/text phishing tactics! According to reports, the technique via texts to collect personal data grew in 2018 as compared to 2017.

Now extracting credentials from devices via phishing is the end goal of cyberattackers which has increased to more than 70 percent. As a result, malware infections today are the most common threat in 2018-19.

According to cybersecurity reports of 2018’s Q2 and Q3, a single password controls many of your day-to-day online activities. Once phishing steal credentials there are high chances that your device can be compromised.

Researchers observed many credential-stealing phishing attacks in 2018 such as targetting shipping firms, hiding the source codes, leaking hospital data, etc.

Also, Read: Upcoming Ransomware Attack Can Cause $200bn Loss to Users

The State of the Phish report also reveals that 69% of attacks use a malicious link, 17% use a format of direct data entry (DOCX and PDF files) and 14% use file, image and voice mail attachments.

Out of all these simulated attacks, the most successful includes toll violation notifications, updates on building evacuation plans, a payment invoice note, and emails requesting to change the password.

The best security measure against the rising phishing attacks is to install and download a cybersecurity tool which can 24X7 acts as an online protective shield due to its real-time protective feature.

An antimalware tool like Malware Crusher checks all URLs and web pages to detect malicious files and stops the incoming of a threat into your computer. Additionally, helps to remove credential-sniffing phishing attacks.

While the phishing attacks are rising, a number of infosec teams are on a path of developing and employing several tactics to defend against the attacks.

IT teams have good reason to do this because of the negative impacts from phishing that cause financial losses, moreover, use security vulnerabilities. Reports suggest victims that they now must train themselves to identify and avoid phishing attacks based on online training.

The Infosec teams are trying a lot to employ a wide range of security tools such as email/spam filters, URL rewriting, threat monitoring platforms and advanced malware analysis tools.

But researchers of cyberworld are trying to develop a more people-centric model which proactively identify phishing, measuring the risk at users’ end and then deliver a regular security awareness via training programs.

Despite these moves, the chances are high that phishing tactics will evolve in future and would become more tricky. But, stopping the increasing phishing attacks is possible by spreading awareness.

Furthermore, organizations should also make it easy for users to report suspicious messages, making it easy for the response team to take action on time.

Until that happens, the best preventive step against phishing is upgrading your cyber defense systems at home and office computers with security tools that provide real-time protection feature, quarantine feature, web protection and anti-exploit technology.

Note: The best security software, you can rely on your computers is ITL Total Security Antivirus and Malware Crusher to remove credential-sniffing phishing attacks on your system. Both are reputable, vigilant and robust in creating a shield all the time against any cyberthreat.

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