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Top 5 phishing statistics of 2022
August 2022 by Atlas VPN
While 2022 is not over, phishers have already launched various attacks. Atlas VPN team compiled a list of the top five most notable phishing statistics and findings of 2022 so far to shine the light on the current cybercrime landscape.
© Boguslaw Mazur
#1 Almost 70% of email scammers leave the ’subject’ line empty
If there is a tell-tale sign that the email one received is a phishing attempt is an empty subject line. Research finds that 67% of cybercriminals leave the subject line blank when sending malicious emails.
Other subject lines attackers use, although much less frequently, include ’Fax Delivery Report’ (9%), ’Business Proposal Request’ (6%), ’Request’ (4%), ’Meeting’ (4%), ’You have (1*) New Voice Message’ (3.5%) , ’Re: Request’ (2%), ’Urgent request’ (2%), and ’Order Confirmation’ (2%).
#2 LinkedIn users targeted in 52% of all phishing attacks globally in Q1 2022
Cybercriminals often utilize big brand names in their phishing attempts in hopes receivers will not notice the message is coming from an illegitimate source. In the first quarter of 2022, attackers most frequently chose LinkedIn as they go to brand.
Linkedin was used in over half (52%) of phishing scams worldwide — a 44% upshift from 8% in the previous quarter. It was the first time a social media brand outranked tech giants like Apple, Google, and Microsoft as phishers’ favorites.
#3 Blockchain.com, Luno, and Cardano are the top-most phished crypto projects
Even with the cryptocurrency market going through hard times, cybercriminals continue to use crypto brands in their scams. One of their tactics is to set up fraudulent websites that look like legitimate brands with hopes of stealing sensitive information.
Cryptocurrency financial service company Blockchain.com was the most spoofed crypto brand, with 662 phishing websites in the last 90 days (till June 22, 2022). Crypto investing app Luno is the second on the list with 277 phishing pages, followed by proof-of-stake blockchain platform Cardano with 191.
#4 Amazon-related phishing sites approach 900 on Amazon Prime Day
Amazon’s Prime Day is a long-awaited sales event for shoppers. However, while consumers enjoy great deals, criminals are working hard to lure them into fake websites.
Amazon was the most frequently impersonated of all the retail brands, with over 1,633 suspicious sites detected in the last 90 days (till July 12, 2022). While the websites are being continuously taken down, as of July 12, the Amazon Prime Day, as many as 897 websites were still live.
#5 54% of successful phishing attacks end in customers’ data breach
If successful, phishing attacks can have devastating consequences. According to Proofpoint’s 2022 State of the Phish Report, a whopping 83% of organizations said they had suffered successful phishing attacks last year. Of them, 54% ended in a customer or client data breach.
Bulk phishing was the most common type of phishing attack. In total, 86% of organizations faced such attacks in 2021.
