Phishing Emails Remain a Top Cyber Threat Despite MFA
Growing Volume of Execs Spearphished Via Email
Despite significant increases in two-factor and multi-factor authentication (2FA/MFA), phishing emails continue to dominate the threat landscape. Social engineering tactics outpace security tech each year as hackers create more sophisticated tricks.
Abnormal Security Reveals Top Trends and Recommendations
Abnormal Security analyzed their email security data from May 2022 to May. The report found that 91% of phishing attacks were launched by imposter and spoofed emails. These emails hack real user accounts to carry out social engineering attacks.
- 30% of phishing emails aimed to steal login credentials.
- 24% contained viruses or ransomware.
- 19% attempted to obtain financial information.
How to Protect Your Organization from Phishing Scams
The best defense against phishing scams is a combination of technological and human elements:
Technological Elements
- Implement phishing prevention tools that block users from interacting with known phishing URLs and attachments. These can integrate into your web browsers, email clients, and even your network routers.
- Use MFA to add an extra layer of security. While bypassing MFA does happen on occasion, having MFA in place significantly reduces malicious email account takeovers.
Human Elements
- Train employees to recognize phishing attempts. Implement Security Awareness Training to teach employees how to detect phishing and report it.
- Stay vigilant. Security is constantly evolving, so make it a habit to stay informed about the latest phishing methods.
Phishing is one of today’s top cyber threats, but it can be defended against. Following the above recommendations will help protect your organization from the significant and evolving threat of phishing.
To learn more about the phishing trends observed in May 2023, read the full report by Abnormal Security here: Abnormal Security Phishing Trends May 2023
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