They are primarily global Internet portals and the financial sector, including banks, payment services and online stores. The main targets of phishing attacks have remained the same since the end of last year.Other key findings in the report include: Use a reliable security solution with behavior-based anti-phishing technologies, such as Kaspersky Total Security, to detect and block spam and phishing attacks.Official companies will never ask for this type of data via email. Never share your sensitive data, such as passwords, bank card data and more, with a third party.This is especially important when you are using websites which contain sensitive data, such as sites for online banking, shopping, email, social media sites, etc. Check the HTTPS connection and domain name when you open a webpage.Remember: if you are using an insecure connection, cybercriminals can invisibly redirect you to phishing pages. For maximum protection, use VPN solutions that encrypt your traffic.
As a precaution, do not use unknown or public Wi-Fi without password protection. Only use a secure connection, especially when you visit sensitive websites.Before clicking any link, check if the link address shown is the same as the actual hyperlink (the real address the link will take you to) – this can be checked by hovering your mouse over the link.Don’t click the link, but type it into your browser’s address line instead. Always check the link address and the sender’s email before clicking anything.Kaspersky Lab experts advise users to take the following measures to protect themselves from phishing:
This can then lead to destructive attacks and a constant flow of money for the cybercriminals.”
Due to this lack of user vigilance, the data on a huge number of accounts gets lost or extorted from users. “Despite the recent global scandals, people continue to click on unsafe links and allow unknown apps to access their personal data. “The continuous increase in phishing attacks - targeting both social networks and financial organizations - shows us that users need to pay more serious attention to their online activities,” said Nadezhda Demidova, lead web content analyst, Kaspersky Lab.
Examples include offers of paid webinars to clarify the new legislation or invitations to install special software that provides access to online resources to ensure compliance with the new rules. For example, a recent trend is the increase of spam emails related to GDPR, Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation. Cybercriminals are constantly searching for new methods to attack users, so it’s important to be aware of fraudster techniques to avoid becoming the next target. These findings reinforce the fact that personal data is valuable in the world of information technology, both for legitimate organizations and attackers. The distribution of different types of social network phishing detected by Kaspersky Lab in Q1 2018 This makes unwary Facebook users a profitable target for cybercriminal phishing attacks. The reason for this is likely to be the 2.13 billion active monthly Facebook users worldwide, including those who log in to unknown apps using their Facebook credentials, thereby granting access to their accounts. In Q1 2018, Facebook also led the social network phishing category, followed by VK, a Russian online social networking service, and LinkedIn. This is part of a long-term trend: in 2017, Facebook became one of the top three targets for phishing overall, at nearly 8 percent, followed by Microsoft Corporation (6 percent) and PayPal (5 percent).
The fraudster creates a copy of a social networking website (such as a fake Facebook page), and tries to lure unsuspecting victims to it, forcing them to give up their personal data – such as their name, password, credit card number, PIN code and more – in the process.Īt the beginning of the year, Facebook was the most popular social networking brand for fraudsters to abuse, and Facebook pages were frequently faked by cybercriminals to try and steal personal data via phishing attacks. Social network phishing is a form of cybercrime that involves the theft of personal data from a victim’s social network account. Woburn, MA – – In the first quarter of 2018, Kaspersky Lab’s anti-phishing technologies prevented more than 3.7 million attempts to visit fraudulent social network pages, of which 60 percent were fake Facebook pages, according to Kaspersky Lab’s ‘Spam and Phishing in Q1 2018’ report.