Amid all the changes brought by the pandemic, one thing remains the same: hackers are still working overtime to design email phishing campaigns to breach your law office cyber-defenses.
In fact, they’ve stepped up their efforts.
The number of phishing websites worldwide in the third quarter of 2020 was 572,000, according to the Anti-Phishing Working Group. That’s a 289 percent increase from the second quarter of 2020, and a 115 percent increase from the third quarter of 2019.
“Bad guys have been working diligently to step up their game on both the front and back end of phishing attacks, despite still being mid-pandemic,” says Stu Sjouwerman, CEO of cybersecurity site KnowBe4. “If this latest phishing trend data is any indication, next year is going to prove to be the year of the phish.”
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Phishing attacks are materially on the rise, according to Sjouwerman and KnowBe4. Here are some numbers:
- There were 572,000 unique websites used for phishing purposes in 3Q 2020. “This is a 115 percent increase from the 3rd quarter last year and 289 percent increase from Q2 of this year,” says Sjouwerman.
- There were 367,000 unique phishing campaigns in 3Q 2020. That’s more than three times the 118,000 sites identified in 3Q 2019 and the 128,000 sites identified in Q2 2020.
- “The number of brands targeted by phishing campaigns rose, but not as sharply as the number of websites and campaigns,” says Sjouwerman. “In Q3, there were over 1500 brands targeted, only up 21 percent from 1283 in Q3 of last year.”
Free Phishing Security Test
How phishing-savvy is your office team? Find out with a free phishing awareness test from KnowBe4:
- The test is available for up to 100 users.
- Start the test online; no need to talk to anyone.
- Select from 20+ languages.
- Customize the phishing test template based on your environment.
- Choose the landing page your users see after they click.
- Show users which red flags they missed, or a 404 page.
- Get a PDF emailed to you in 24 hours with your Phish-prone % and charts.
- See how your law firm compares to other firms.
Get started with your free Phishing Security Test here.
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