Businesses received over 20 billion spam emails this year

Date:
Fri, 06 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Description:
Spam and malicious emails are being sent to businesses more than ever.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Business es are being sent billions of spam emails Of these emails, 427 million contained malicious content Phishing attacks are the primary attack vector

New research from HornetSecurity has shown that a third of all emails
received by businesses this year were spam, amounting to over 20 billion over the course of the year. Of these, over 427 million contained malicious
content (2.3%).

Unsurprisingly, phishing is top of the list of most prevalent cyberattacks in 2024, and was responsible for a third of all attacks. Malicious URLS came in
a close second, making up 22.7%.

Malicious links often direct victims to fake login pages, enticing them to enter personal or even payment information. Although nearly every type of malicious file saw a decrease in comparison to 2023, HTML files (20.4%), PDFs (19.2%), and Archive files (17.6%) were still the top three vectors used. Phishing is king

Cybercriminals have been using social engineering attacks for many years, but the evolution of AI tools has led to a significant rise in attacks in recent years, with some businesses receiving 36 phishing emails per day .

AI is not only making attacks more common, but also more sophisticated, with new tactics often able to bypass security measures, with Q2 of 2024 seeing a 52.2% increase in phishing attacks which passed secure email gateway detection.

Last year, our prediction came to pass that phishing attacks would become
more sophisticated, targeted and difficult to spot, due in large part to the proliferation of generative AI. said Matt Aldridge, Principal Solutions Consultant at OpenText Cybersecurity.

We predict that this trend will continue, as attackers continue to become better armed with AI-integrated solutions such as next-generation phishing kits. Ensuring that all bases are covered will need to be top of mind for
SMB defenders. Getting the basics right has never been more critical. You might also like Take a look at our pick of the best antivirus software around Thousands of employees could be falling victim to obvious phishing scams
every month Check out our choices for best malware removal software



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/businesses-received-over-20-billion-spa m-emails-this-year


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