“Unearthing the Alarming Surge of Advanced Phishing Attacks in 2022: A Perception Point Report”

Advanced Phishing Attacks Rose by 356% in 2022, Perceived Risks to Organizations

Introduction

A recently published Annual Report by Perception Point has informed that the number of advanced phishing attacks rose by 356% in 2022. Overall, the total number of cyber-attacks has increased by 87% – it indicates a growing need for an organization to maintain their cybersecurity systems. Perception Point, a company providing advanced threat prevention solutions, has gathered intelligence data for their Annual Report from their Anti-Threat Prevention solutions for email, web browsers, and cloud collaboration apps. In this article, we will analyze the report and provide readers with essential insights.

Report Details

Perception Point analyzed several unique and concerning trends throughout 2022 and indicated that malicious actors had managed to gain widespread access to new tools and advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). Consequently, they can now launch sophisticated attacks with ease, characterized by social engineering as well as evasion techniques.

While email and web browsers remain the leading attack vectors, 2022 saw a 161% surge in attacks on all other channels, such as cloud storage and collaboration apps. Phishing attacks accounted for 67.4% of all attacks, and there was a significant growth of 83% in Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks. Such attacks are text-based, and cybercriminals impersonate legitimate businesses and leverage social engineering techniques to obtain confidential data or large sums of money. It is often challenging for the traditional email security system to detect such attacks as they are targeted towards individual employees, who are susceptible despite their highly-advanced training.

Threat Landscape

Phone scam attacks also rose by 363% in 2022. Attackers posing as legitimate companies use social engineering techniques and prompt victims to call customer support number. Once the victims make the call, they are requested to provide their personal information by the apparent “helpful” support teams.

Microsoft was the most impersonated brand in malicious emails, 3.3x more than the next most impersonated brand, LinkedIn. Among all attacks, advanced attacks constituted 2%, but when analyzing particular channels, it rose to 31.9% on file storage tools and 56.9% on Amazon S3 buckets.

Recommendations

Yoram Salinger, CEO of Perception Point, urges organizations to be vigilant in protecting their people from modern threats across multiple business and collaboration channels. He recommends that traditional security systems must be augmented or replaced with effective prevention and rapid remediation services when required. It is crucial to stay informed about the current malware and phishing trends, provide regular cybersecurity training to employees and adopt a comprehensive and robust security strategy.

Conclusion

The report published by Perception Point has suggested that cyber attackers are increasing their activities and have managed to gain access to advanced tools and advancements in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Organizations need to stay informed and adopt a comprehensive security strategy to mitigate the risks and prevent cyber-attacks. It is high time for organizations to prioritize cybersecurity and understand that cybersecurity is integral to their survival in the digital age.