There is no need to say that cybercriminals improve their skills to harm your gadgets or steal personal data. Even special trendy topics and newsbreaks work as a tasty lure for a user, and these hooks become even more sophisticated with time. What were the methods and newsbreaks that cybercriminals used successfully in 2021? Let’s talk in detail about them.
- The topic of COVID-19 was one of the most triggering ones to hook users who eagerly lurked on the Internet to get information about the pandemic. Yet, in 2021, its influence was diminished, and the topic of vaccination substituted it. One of the most effective phishing methods based on the vaccination theme was sending fake surveys via e-mail to encourage employees to click the phishing link in the letter’s body.
- According to user awareness projects carried out by Positive Technologies, in 2021, fake corporate e-mails related to changes in bonuses and salaries were especially “successful” (such e-mails and files attached to them were opened by an average of 28% of employees), updates social package (54% of openings) and banking services tariffs (59% of openings).
- Phishing sites devoted to movie premieres are also on the top. Users go to them hoping to see the premiere, and here they are, hooked and robbed. These sites are usually looking similar to streaming sharks like Netflix or Hulu. They did offer the subscription to their services lots of users eagerly bought, making their banking data threatened.
- False bank sites are also flourishing on the world wide web. Sometimes, criminals send special offers via messengers to encourage users to click the fake link and indicate their payment data on the bank twin site. Can you guess what should happen when the user does so? Bingo! All the data about their payment methods became a robber’s prey.
- Investment offers are also among the top methods of phishing. Some criminals imitate popular crypto exchange sites to attract users. They offered profitable investment opportunities and then robbed you when you click the link in the message/e-mail.
Although 2021 is over, these challenges are not outdated yet. So don’t lose your vigilance and use effective cyber security protection methods from Quantics.
