These Are The Brands Which Hackers, Scammers Love The Most: Facebook, Google, Apple Top The List!

Email, web, social media, SMS and mobile apps are all major parts of our digital lives. They are however been increasingly abused for phishing attacks.

Technically speaking, phishing is social engineering attack often used to steal user data, including login credentials and credit card numbers, using digital channels. Phishing and email attacks are not only increasing as time goes on and our lives and data get stored online but are also evolving.

2019’s report on phishing trends and numbers show how it continues to evolve as threat actors adapt to changes in the digital landscape. Targets have shifted to newer tactics and attack volume continues to rise.

Top 10 Most Used Phishing Brands for Scammers

According to a report by Check Point Research, fraudsters use popular brands like Google, Facebook and others to skim your details.

In a brand phishing attack, criminals try to imitate the official website of a well-known brand by using a similar domain name or URL and web-page design to the genuine site.

The link to the fake website can be sent to targeted individuals by email or text message, redirected during web browsing, or triggered from a fraudulent mobile application.

In fact, according to Check Point Research, the under mentioned 10 brands are the favorurite ones for scammers to send you false emails for hacking.

• Fake Facebook websites are responsible for 18% of all phishing attempts globally.
• Around 10% phishing attacks happen using fake Yahoo websites.
• 5% of all phishing attempts globally are done through fake Netflix websites and apps.
• Fake PayPay are responsible for 5 of all phishing attempts globally.
• Microsoft services and websites are used for 3% of all phishing attempts globally.
• Fake Spotify services are responsible for 3% of all phishing attempts globally.
• Fake Apple websites and services are responsible for 3% of all phishing attempts globally.
• Around 2% of phishing attempts globally are done through fake Google services.
• Fake services of Chase accounts for 2% of phishing attempts globally.
• Fake website of Ray-Ban is responsible for 2% of phishing attempts globally.

Phishing and Email Fraud Statistics 2019

• The average financial cost of a data breach is $3.86 Million, as per IBM.
• Phishing accounts for 90% of data breaches.
• 15% of people successfully phished will be targeted at least one more time within the year.
• BEC scams accounted for over $12 billion in losses, according to FBI.
• Phishing attempts have grown 65% in the last year.
• Around 1.5m new phishing sites are created each month, as per Webroot.
• 76% of businesses reported being a victim of a phishing attack in the last year.
• 30% of phishing messages get opened by targeted users, as per Verizon.