SME Times is powered by   
Search News
Just in:   • Adani Group to invest Rs 57,575 crore in Odisha  • 'Dollar Distancing' finally happening? Time for India to pitch Rupee as credible alternative: SBI Ecowrap  • 49% Indian startups now from tier 2, 3 cities: Jitendra Singh  • 'India ranks 3rd in global startup ecosystem & number of unicorns'  • LinkedIn lays off entire global events marketing team: Report 
Last updated: 25 Jun, 2019  

Cyber crime generic THMB Social engineering cyber attacks up considerably in Q1: FireEye

Cyber.Crime.9.jpg
   Top Stories
» 49% Indian startups now from tier 2, 3 cities: Jitendra Singh
» 'India ranks 3rd in global startup ecosystem & number of unicorns'
» Tripura exported over 9K tonnes of pineapples in 2 years
» CPI inflation eases to 6.71% in July, IIP falls to 12.3%
» Rupee depreciates 12 paise to close at 79.64 against US dollar
IANS | 25 Jun, 2019
There has been a significant increase in social engineering attacks globally in the first quarter of 2019, the intelligence-led security company FireEye said on Tuesday, adding that spoofed phishing attempts, HTTPS encryption in URL-based attacks and Cloud-based attacks focused on publicly hosted, trusted file-sharing services are on the rise.

There has been a 26 per cent increase in malicious URLs using HTTPS, a 17 per cent rise in phishing attempts, significant increase in file-sharing service exploitation, and new impersonation techniques in Q1, said the "FireEye Email Threat Report" that analyzed a sample set of 1.3 billion emails.

"Threat actors are doing their homework. We're seeing new variants of impersonation attacks that target new contacts and departments within organizations," said Ken Bagnall, Vice President of Email Security at FireEye.

"The danger is these new targets may not be prepared or have the necessary knowledge to identify an attack. Unfortunately, once the fraudulent activity is discovered, the targeted organization thinks they've paid a legitimate invoice, when the transaction was actually made to an attacker's account," Bagnall said in a statement.

A typical phishing email impersonates a well-known contact or trusted company to induce the recipient to click on an embedded link, with the ultimate goal of credential or credit card harvesting.

During the Q1, the top spoofed brands across these activities included Microsoft, with almost 30 per cent of all detections, followed by OneDrive, Apple, PayPal and Amazon, each within the 6-7 per cent range.

In 2018, FireEye reported that URL-based attacks had overtaken attachment-based attacks as a means of delivery. This trend continued in Q1.

"Notably, FireEye saw a 26 per cent quarter-over-quarter increase in malicious URLs using HTTPS. This indicated malicious actors are taking advantage of the common consumer perception that HTTPS is a 'safer' option to engage on the Internet," said the company.

Cloud-based attacks, particularly those leveraging file-sharing services, increased in the first quarter.

"Analysis of Q1'19 emails showed a dramatic increase in links to malicious files posted to popular and trusted file-sharing services, such as WeTransfer, Google Drive and OneDrive. Dropbox was the most commonly used," the findings showed.


 
Print the Page
Add to Favorite
 
Share this on :
 

Please comment on this story:
 
Subject :
Message:
(Maximum 1500 characters)  Characters left 1500
Your name:
 

 
  Customs Exchange Rates
Currency Import Export
US Dollar
66.20
64.50
UK Pound
87.50
84.65
Euro
78.25
75.65
Japanese Yen 58.85 56.85
As on 13 Aug, 2022
  Daily Poll
PM Modi's recent US visit to redefine India-US bilateral relations
 Yes
 No
 Can't say
  Commented Stories
» GIC Re's revenue from obligatory cession threatened(1)
 
 
About Us  |   Advertise with Us  
  Useful Links  |   Terms and Conditions  |   Disclaimer  |   Contact Us  
Follow Us : Facebook Twitter