Phishing was among the most common attack vectors in cyberattacks, responsible for 16% of all incidents. Security breaches carried out by hackers with bad intentions are one of the threats that emerged with the development of the cyber world.
Millions of people worldwide have already fallen victim to the popular scam known as phishing. As 2023 approaches, this scam is still on the increase, exposing you and all other internet users. You also need to be aware of a lot of security risks, such Trojan horses, ransomware, and cryptojacking.
Cybercriminals and threat actors with connections to states continued to take advantage of enterprises’ hybrid working methods in 2022. The increase in these attacks is showing no signs of stopping as the Russia-Ukraine conflict has continued to have a serious worldwide effect.
What is Phishing?
Phishing is a type of social engineering used to get information from unknowing users by acting as trustworthy organisations and authorities to whom victims could give personal information. Attackers often known as “phishermen,” target people through social media, SMS, and email.
Many other types of data can also be get through a phishing scam, although attackers usually target login passwords and payment information. This scam may also be used to send malware, compromising not just your data but also your device.
Phishing Statistics in 2023
Phishing attacks were shown to be common over the world in 2021 and 2022. These numbers appear to show that the high rate of cyberattacks will resume in 2023.
According to NIST’s 2022 State of Phishing Report, there were 250 million phishing attacks in 2022 alone. That shows that tens of millions of online scams were executed each month. The number of phishing attacks has increased shockingly by 61% since 2021.
Studies found that receivers open 35% of all phishing emails. The fact that billions of phishing emails are generated each year means that hundreds of millions of these harmful emails are engaged with on a basic level.
A lot of people use MFA, or multi-factor authentication, to add an extra layer of protection to the login process, requiring the login to be verified from a different account or device.
However, MFA and 2FA (two-factor authentication) are now in danger as cybercrime strategies get more sophisticated that can bypass this extra security. Attackers are expected to keep targeting these technologies to bypass the security measures they offer.
The Cyberwire claims a rise in spear phishing attacks in 2023, particularly those using LinkedIn accounts. In comparison to the normal phishing attacks’ random victim selection, this attack targets specific people and organisations.
In 2023, spear phishing may become more common as it targets larger corporations and high-profile people.
We may also blame our growing dependence on technology for the persistence of phishing attacks. It is simpler for cybercriminals to use phishing to get our data as we trust more online platforms with it.
Mitigation
It’s important to know how to defend yourself from this threat since phishing will probably still be commonly used in 2023. Recognising for sure if you’ve received a phishing email might be difficult. Especially when you get emails that appear to have been written professionally and are issued by organisations you know and trust. However, if you exercise caution and keep an eye out, you should be able to avoid falling for the scams.
Make sure your email accounts are protected with anti-spam filters. Typical phishing scams attack individuals since the hacker already has their addresses. By turning on the spam filter, your email provider will be able to identify emails that are sent as spam. By doing this as a first step, you can make sure that possibly harmful emails go into your spam folder rather than your inbox.
The chances of falling victim to a phishing scheme can be greatly reduced by regularly training company employees on secure data handling procedures, warning signs to look out for when identifying phishing emails, having a high-quality security system in place for their devices, and other similar measures.
Since phishing attackers might target the same addresses more than once, you should make sure to block any addresses you’ve found suspicious. A specific email can also be reported as spam to your email provider so that it can be checked.
Try to take all necessary precautions to secure your accounts and educate yourself on the signs of phishing attempts protect your sensitive data. You may then be ready for any phishing threats that might arise in 2023.
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