Finance industry highly vulnerable to phishing attacks
It is essential for every organization to prioritize email security since email is used daily. A recent report by Abnormal Security analyzed email threats and found that file-sharing phishing attacks have increased by 350% over the year. Sixty percent of these attacks exploit legitimate domains, with webmail accounts like Gmail, iCloud, and Outlook being the most common targets. Productivity and collaboration platforms, file storage and sharing platforms such as Dropbox, and e-signature solutions like Docusign are also frequently exploited.
The finance industry is identified as the most at risk, with file sharing phishing attacks accounting for one in 10 attacks. Attackers target financial institutions through fraudulent file-sharing notifications among the various documents exchanged securely. Construction and engineering are the second most vulnerable industries, followed by real estate and property management companies.
Business email compromise (BEC) attacks have increased by over 50% in the past year, with a 60% rise in attacks on smaller organizations in the last half. VEC attacks targeted 41% of customers weekly in the first half of 2024. Construction and engineering firms, as well as retailers and consumer goods manufacturers, are the most vulnerable to VEC attacks, with 70% of organizations experiencing at least one attack in the first half of the year.
