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Quarterly Threat Trends & Intelligence August 2022

August 2022 In Q2, Agari and PhishLabs detected and mitigated hundreds of thousands of phishing, social media, email, and dark web threats targeting a broad range of enterprises and brands. The Quarterly Threat Trends & Intelligence Report provides an analysis of the latest findings and insights into key trends shaping the threat landscape. Readers will learn: How phishing attack volume...
Press Release

Response-Based Email Threats Targeting Corporate Inboxes Are The Highest Since 2020, According To Fortra’ Latest Agari And PhishLabs Report

Hybrid Vishing Attacks Increased in Volume by 625% since Q1 2021 MINNEAPOLIS – August 15, 2022 – Response-based attacks targeting corporate inboxes have climbed to their highest volume since 2020, representing 41 percent of all email-based scams targeting employees, during Q2 of this year. This is according to the latest Quarterly Threat Trends & Intelligence Report from Agari and PhishLabs, part...
New Report Documents Highest Volume of Response-Based Email Threats Since 2020
Blog

New Report Documents Highest Volume of Response-Based Email Threats Since 2020

By Jessica Ryan on Mon, 08/15/2022
In Q2, Response-Based attacks targeting corporate inboxes climbed to their highest volume since 2020, according to the latest Quarterly Threat Trends & Intelligence Report from Agari and PhishLabs. Response-Based threats such as Advanced-Fee Fraud, Business Email Compromise (BEC), and hybrid Vishing attacks all demonstrated increased volume in Q2, with Vishing specifically growing 625% over the...
Top 10 Ways To Recognize a Phishing Email
Blog

Top 10 Ways To Recognize a Phishing Email

Thu, 08/11/2022
Courtesy of Digital Guardian by Fortra Attackers continue to find clever new ways to disguise phishing emails. Here are 10 different ways you can identify a phishing email. While large-scale ransomware and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks may be taking up up the bulk of people’s cybersecurity news feeds, organizations have more to worry about than the newest and most sophisticated...
The “I’s” Have It: How BEC Scammers Validate New Targets with Blank Emails
Blog

The “I’s” Have It: How BEC Scammers Validate New Targets with Blank Emails

By John Wilson on Thu, 08/04/2022
Courtesy of Agari by Fortra. Have you ever received a blank email from someone you don’t know? If you have, it may have been from a cybercriminal making sure your email account is legitimate prior to a BEC attack. We released a report on a business email compromise (BEC) cybercriminal group named London Blue in December 2018. The report dove into the organizational structure of West African...
Top 4 Threats to Retail Brands
Blog

Top 4 Threats to Retail Brands

By Jessica Ryan on Thu, 07/28/2022
Cyber attacks targeting retail brands have increased dramatically over the last year. Since Q3 2021, retail has experienced a nearly 500% increase in attacks on social media alone. Counterfeit websites and look-alike domains are also among the top threats to online retailers. Attackers incorporate stolen designs and trademarks to stand up counterfeit sites, outbid legitimate businesses with...
10,000 organisations targeted by phishing attack that bypasses multi-factor authentication
Blog

10,000 organisations targeted by phishing attack that bypasses multi-factor authentication

Thu, 07/21/2022
Courtesy of Tripwire by Fortra. Microsoft has shared details of a widespread phishing campaign that not only attempted to steal the passwords of targeted organisations, but was also capable of circumventing multi-factor authentication (MFA) defences. The attackers used AiTM (Attacker-in-The-Middle) reverse-proxy sites to pose as Office 365 login pages which requested MFA codes, and then use them...
Account Takeover Protection
Interview: How Organizations Can Proactively Tackle Phishing Attacks
Blog

Interview: How Organizations Can Proactively Tackle Phishing Attacks

Tue, 07/19/2022
Courtesy of Expert Insights Billy Smith is the Managing Director at PhishLabs by Fortra. With a wealth of experience in the IT and cybersecurity industry, Smith is an expert in using curated threat intelligence to take down cyberthreats. In his role at PhishLabs, Smith enables organizations to proactively identify and remediate threats across their digital channels, including email, social media,...
Emotet Tops Payload Attack Volume in Q2
Blog

Emotet Tops Payload Attack Volume in Q2

By Jessica Ryan on Thu, 07/14/2022
Emotet contributed to just over 47% of all attacks targeting corporate users in Q2, narrowly surpassing former leader QBot. This is the first quarter Emotet has represented the majority of payload reports since its disruption in January 2021. Together, Emotet and QBot dominated payload volume, totaling more than 90% of reported payload activity. Malicious payloads distributed via phishing emails...
What Is Email Spoofing and How Do You Protect Against It?
Blog

What Is Email Spoofing and How Do You Protect Against It?

Tue, 07/12/2022
Courtesy of Agari by Fortra. What is Email Spoofing? Email spoofing is one of the most common forms of cybercriminal activity, specifically a form of identity deception that’s widely used in phishing and spam attacks. It underpins the mechanism required to conduct hacking activities, and it can take many forms. Unfortunately, most email users will eventually receive an email that has been...
Customer Phishing Protection Couldn’t Be Easier with PhishLabs
Blog

Customer Phishing Protection Couldn’t Be Easier with PhishLabs

By Monica Delyani on Thu, 07/07/2022
It’s not news that cybercrime is a constant battle—large enterprises and small businesses everywhere are susceptible to a myriad of advanced email threats and socially engineered attacks, such as executive or brand impersonation. According to IC3’s Internet Crime Report, over $44 million in losses in 2021 were a direct result of malicious phishing and advanced email scams. Despite billions having...
Account Takeover Protection
Building Cybersecurity Resilience in Financial Services
Blog

Building Cybersecurity Resilience in Financial Services

By Eric George on Tue, 07/05/2022
The financial services cybersecurity environment is extremely complex, with a dizzying number of often-overlapping regulations, ongoing threats, and understaffed teams trying to manage it all. Despite paying significant attention to security, many organizations continue to be the targets of advanced persistent threats, fraud, sophisticated phishing campaigns, and other bold efforts to access the...
Dark Web Disruptions in Q1 Trigger Shift in Illicit Exchanges
Blog

Dark Web Disruptions in Q1 Trigger Shift in Illicit Exchanges

By Jessica Ryan on Thu, 06/30/2022
In Q1, the exchange of sensitive data on Carding Marketplaces and Forums increased as government seizure of multiple Dark Web sites prompted a shift in where actors conduct illegal activities, according to the Agari and PhishLabs Quarterly Threat Trends & Intelligence Report. These sites specialize in the trafficking of stolen credentials and data such as usernames, passwords, banking, and...
Q1 Phishing Volume Consistent, Up Over Q4
Blog

Q1 Phishing Volume Consistent, Up Over Q4

By Jessica Ryan on Thu, 06/23/2022
In Q1, more than 51% of phishing sites abused paid services, according to the Agari and PhishLabs Quarterly Threat Trends & Intelligence Report. This is the first time in five consecutive quarters where the majority of phishing sites were staged using Paid Domain Registrations or Compromised Sites. Phishing volume as a whole continues to increase in 2022 in comparison to the same time period last...
Hybrid Vishing Attacks Soar YoY, Achieve All-Time High In March
Blog

Hybrid Vishing Attacks Soar YoY, Achieve All-Time High In March

By Jessica Ryan on Thu, 06/16/2022
Vishing reports in Q1 2022 increased nearly 550% over Q1 2021, according to Agari and PhishLabs’ Quarterly Threat Trends & Intelligence Report. While these Response-Based attacks have recently displayed stunning numbers, malicious emails as a whole are growing steadily, and represent the top online attack vector targeting corporate users. Malicious emails are delivered primarily in the form of...
Social Media Attacks Targeting Businesses Increase 105%
Blog

Social Media Attacks Targeting Businesses Increase 105%

By Jessica Ryan on Thu, 06/09/2022
Social media attacks targeting enterprises have increased 105% from Q1 2021 to Q1 2022, according to Agari and PhishLabs’ latest Quarterly Threat Trends & Intelligence Report. Social media threat volume has consistently climbed quarter over quarter, as threat actors increasingly use social platforms to target business via fake pages, messaging, and advertisements. Every quarter, Agari and...
Dramatic Increase Detected in Impersonation Attacks on Social Media
Blog

Dramatic Increase Detected in Impersonation Attacks on Social Media

By Jessica Ryan on Thu, 06/02/2022
Impersonations of brands and executives on social media have grown more than 300% and 250% year-over-year, respectively, according to the Agari and PhishLabs Quarterly Threat Trends & Intelligence Report. This highlights the overall increase in social media activity and ease of accessibility for bad actors to repurpose stolen trademarks and intellectual property (IP) for a variety of malicious...
Executive Protection
Vishing Attacks Are at an All-Time High, Report Finds
Blog

Vishing Attacks Are at an All-Time High, Report Finds

Tue, 05/24/2022
Vishing attacks have increased almost 550 percent over the last twelve months, according to Agari and PhishLabs’ Quarterly Threat Trends & Intelligence Report. The May report uses hundreds of thousands of phishing and social media threats analyzed and mitigated by Agari and PhishLabs, both of which are part of the Fortra cybersecurity portfolio. By identifying and mitigating attacks targeting...
Press Release

Vishing Attacks Reach All Time High According to Latest Agari and PhishLabs Report

More Than a 5x Increase in Vishing Attacks Year-over-Year Reported MINNEAPOLIS – May 23, 2022 – Vishing (voice phishing) cases have increased almost 550 percent over the last twelve months (Q1 2022 to Q1 2021), according to the latest Quarterly Threat Trends & Intelligence Report from Agari and PhishLabs, both of which are part of the Fortra cybersecurity portfolio. In Q1 2022, Agari and...
Why BitB Attacks are Concerning
Blog

Why BitB Attacks are Concerning

By Jessica Ryan on Thu, 05/05/2022
PhishLabs has identified a Browser-in-the-Browser (BitB) campaign targeting financial institutions with a fake Office 365 (O365) authorization protocol. The attack is delivered via phishing email and redirects the victim to a website impersonating an O365 single sign-on (SSO) page. A BitB attack is a novel phishing technique that replicates pop-up windows used for SSO in an effort to steal login...