Retail markets continue to rise after the coronavirus pandemic as people from all walks of life shifted towards online buying and selling and this led to a significant change in the e-commerce businesses. On the other hand, online browsers and websites have also become highly susceptible to phishing attacks. Research from an IT security company, Zscaler highlights why these online markets are at risk of over 400% malicious activities. In the end, we’ll discuss the reasons.
Zscaler gathered data on over two hundred billion routine transactions, and one hundred fifty threats over the previous year to identify and pursue the cybercriminals worldwide. According to the report, there is a 29% growth in worldwide phishing scams in 2021 with the wholesale industry affecting the most malware attacks. The retail and wholesale industry saw a huge 436% jump in cybercrime. Zscaler's report analyzed different parameters and concluded that SMS phishing, phishing emails, and malicious emails have minimized the technical barriers for hackers. The report also showed more than 60% of phishing attacks were detected in the United States, making it the most vulnerable country for data breaches. Along with that, Singapore, Russia, France, and the United Kingdom also suffered from the malicious attacks with an 829%, 799%, 342%,and 331% increase. In stark contrast, phishing attacks in technology sectors and medical care have significantly dropped to 59% followed by 15%.
Phishing as-a-service is one of the main tricks played by scammers. Phishing as a service means that hackers use advanced tools available on the darknet to cause a security threat to an organization and the hacking kits usage allows a hacker to deceive the organization’s security channels and software. Other than this, work-from-home facility after the lockdown has also impacted consumers to purchase items through online apps and sites. Users have no clear idea how to distinguish a genuine website from fraud. Cybercriminals post unauthorized advertisements on websites and urge visitors to other sites that contain malware. Cyberattacks like these are prevalent. In addition to it, scammers use email as a vector to attack the business’s data and in turn demand ransomware from the business owners. Furthermore, threat actors have also become smart enough to use more sophisticated techniques. They hack credentials and transactions of a company and incorporate some sort of malicious malware in the system to hack data and bank details, enabling them to subvert protection and compromise the Company’s system.
In order to stop the retail and wholesale industry from phishing attacks, companies must have a control system to initially detect, react and recognize the risk. Security experts must be proactive in blocking unauthorized domains and limit the scammers to use any pre-built phishing kit.
Read next: Cybercriminals Impersonate LinkedIn More Than Any Other Brand, New Research Shows
Zscaler gathered data on over two hundred billion routine transactions, and one hundred fifty threats over the previous year to identify and pursue the cybercriminals worldwide. According to the report, there is a 29% growth in worldwide phishing scams in 2021 with the wholesale industry affecting the most malware attacks. The retail and wholesale industry saw a huge 436% jump in cybercrime. Zscaler's report analyzed different parameters and concluded that SMS phishing, phishing emails, and malicious emails have minimized the technical barriers for hackers. The report also showed more than 60% of phishing attacks were detected in the United States, making it the most vulnerable country for data breaches. Along with that, Singapore, Russia, France, and the United Kingdom also suffered from the malicious attacks with an 829%, 799%, 342%,and 331% increase. In stark contrast, phishing attacks in technology sectors and medical care have significantly dropped to 59% followed by 15%.
Phishing as-a-service is one of the main tricks played by scammers. Phishing as a service means that hackers use advanced tools available on the darknet to cause a security threat to an organization and the hacking kits usage allows a hacker to deceive the organization’s security channels and software. Other than this, work-from-home facility after the lockdown has also impacted consumers to purchase items through online apps and sites. Users have no clear idea how to distinguish a genuine website from fraud. Cybercriminals post unauthorized advertisements on websites and urge visitors to other sites that contain malware. Cyberattacks like these are prevalent. In addition to it, scammers use email as a vector to attack the business’s data and in turn demand ransomware from the business owners. Furthermore, threat actors have also become smart enough to use more sophisticated techniques. They hack credentials and transactions of a company and incorporate some sort of malicious malware in the system to hack data and bank details, enabling them to subvert protection and compromise the Company’s system.
In order to stop the retail and wholesale industry from phishing attacks, companies must have a control system to initially detect, react and recognize the risk. Security experts must be proactive in blocking unauthorized domains and limit the scammers to use any pre-built phishing kit.
Read next: Cybercriminals Impersonate LinkedIn More Than Any Other Brand, New Research Shows
