A Look At The Email Threat Landscape In Q1 2023
Security Boulevard, Tuesday, July 18,2023
Social engineering scams are one of the most pervasive and enduring attack techniques. From the most rudimentary phishing emails riddled with spelling mistakes to sophisticated, personalized business email compromise (BEC) attacks, email plays a central role in the social engineering threat landscape.
VIPRE recently released its Email Threat Trends Report for Q1 2023, which analyzed 1.8 billion emails to provide the cybersecurity industry with a comprehensive understanding of contemporary email threats. This article will break down some of the key findings from that report.
Phishing
Phishing scams have long been a favored attack technique for cybercriminals looking to capitalize on users' lack of cybersecurity awareness. VIPRE's report reflected phishing's enduring popularity; phishing attempts made up a significant chunk of the 220,000 spam emails identified, second only to spam emails. A staggering 28% of all spam emails belonged to phishing campaigns.
The lion's share of spam (76%) and phishing (94%) emails came from the United States. However, it's important to note that the U.S. houses most data centers, meaning these figures are likely skewed. Even if the phishing scams originated from another country, we would have no way of knowing the origin.