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VIPRE Report - Business Email Compromise

September 4, 2024 - VIPRE's Q2 2024 Email Threat Trends Report which highlights the ingenuity of cyber criminals in using AI to evade detection and maliciously scam individuals and enterprises. VIPRE processed 1.8 billion emails globally, detecting 226.45 million spam emails and 16.91 million malicious URLs to identify the email threat trends that impact enterprises the most.

BEC remains a major scourge. Nearly half (49%) of all detected spam emails are attributed to BEC scams, with the CEO, followed by HR and IT, being the most common targets.

A more sinister development is that VIPRE found that 40% of the BEC emails were AI-generated.  In some cases,  AI created the entire message.

The key findings include: 

• Double the Malicious Attachments:  Q2 2024 saw twice as many evasive malicious attachments compared to the previous year, underlining the sophistication of modern email exploits. Organisattions without measures to detect these advanced threats could find themselves in hot water, facing double the risk compared to Q2 last year.

• 74% Increase in Malicious Links : The research identified 16.91 million malicious URLs, a 74% rise from the previous year. This surge highlights the growing use of advanced evasion techniques by attackers. 

• Emerging trends in Phishing and Malspam:  Phishing remains a dominant threat with attackers favouring URL redirection and cloud-hosting services. Cloudflare Turnstile was the most commonly used technique (51%) in phishing emails. 

Cloudflare Turnstile is a free service designed to protect websites from malicious traffic and functions as an advanced CAPTCHA alternative. 

A significant shift in malspam tactics was observed. 86% of malspam emails used malicious links and only 14% contained attachments, a reverse of the Q1 2024 trend, where 78% of malspam emails contained malicious attachments, while only 22% used malicious links. 

This swing may be due to the increasing difficulty in detecting malicious links leading to seemingly legitimate websites that contain infected links. 

Sector-Specific Targeting:  Threat actors increasingly targeted the manufacturing sector with 25% of email attacks, followed by retail (which was absent from 2023's targets) at 20% and real estate at 11%. 

Attackers appear to be focusing on industries perceived as lacking advanced cybersecurity measures. In 2023, finance led the way with 25% of email attacks, and manufacturing surged to 43% in Q1 2024, a top position the sector continues to hold.

Regional Spam Sources:  The US continues to be the top contender when it comes to sending and receiving spam (receiving nearly half of all phishing emails), most likely thanks to its vast data centre infrastructure. Consistent with last quarter, the UK was the second-largest source of spam, followed by Canada, Sweden, and Iceland; three countries that failed to make the list either last quarter or this time last year. 

“As AI technology advances, the potential for BEC attacks grows exponentially. Malefactors are now leveraging sophisticated AI algorithms to craft compelling phishing emails, mimicking the tone and style of legitimate communications,” commented Usman Choudhary , Chief Product & Technology Officer at VIPRE.

“The next wave of BEC attacks could see attackers using AI to dynamically analyse and exploit real-time information, creating tailored and contextually accurate scams nearly indistinguishable from genuine correspondence...

“Enterprises must stay ahead by adopting robust AI-driven defences and continuously educating their workforce on emerging threats.” Choudhury concludes.

VIPRE solutions are available in UK through Simple IT Distribution LTD, VIPRE Partner in the UK.

About Simple IT Distribution LTD

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