Kaspersky, a provider of cybersecurity solutions, has revealed that in 2022, its anti-phishing technology stopped more than 500 million attempts worldwide to reach bogus websites. It stated that these estimates are twice as high as those from 2021.
8.7% of people and business users in Africa, according to Kaspersky, were victims of phishing assaults, which the company said were discovered and prevented.
Particularly, the company reported that in South Africa, 9.7% of customers are affected by phishing, followed by Kenya at 8.4% and Nigeria at 7%.
It was pointed out that although phishing and spam attacks are not always technologically advanced, they rely on sophisticated social engineering techniques, making them extremely harmful for individuals who are unaware of them.
According to Kaspersky, fraudsters are adept at developing phishing web pages that look exactly like the legitimate websites that capture sensitive user information or facilitate the transfer of money to fraudsters posing as legitimate businesses or individuals.
According to Kaspersky analysts, phishing was used by cybercriminals more frequently in 2022. 507,851,735 attempts to access fraudulent content were effectively rejected by the company’s anti-phishing technology in 2022, more than double the amount of attacks stopped in 2021.
It was shown that delivery services were the industry most commonly the subject of phishing assaults. Fraudsters send false emails claiming to be from well-known delivery services and to report a delivery issue.
The email contains a link to a bogus website that requests money or personal information. If the victim falls for the fraud, they risk losing their identity and having their banking details sold to dark web websites.
Online shops and financial services were the most frequently targeted industries for financial phishing. 15.4% of financial phishing efforts in South Africa used phony payment system websites, 68.4% used phony online retailers, and 16.2% used phony bank portal websites.
Financial phishing efforts made in Kenya comprised 22,5% of attempts made through phony payment system websites, 54,9% through phony online retailers, and 22,6% through phony online bank portals.
And among the financial phishing efforts in Nigeria, 31.1% were made through phony payment system websites, 51.2% through phony online retailers, and 17.8% through phony bank portal websites.
In the phishing environment of 2022, Kaspersky experts have also identified a global trend: an increase in the propagation of attacks through messengers, with WhatsApp accounting for the bulk of blocked attempts, followed by Telegram and Viber.
It was noticed that there was a rise in the demand for social media credentials among hackers, who preyed on people’s privacy concerns and insatiable curiosity by providing phony updates and verified account status on social media sites.
Also, the analysts discovered that phishing attackers continue to utilize cryptocurrency schemes and market catastrophes like the pandemic to acquire sensitive information from consumers who are scared and concerned. These con artists are stealing sensitive information by preying on people’s anxieties and insecurities.
Olga Svistunova, a security expert at Kaspersky, stated: “Phishing is one of the most prevalent and pernicious threats in the cybersecurity landscape. Being the gateway to many of the worst cyber threats, phishing pages are the first step in a long chain of events that can result in identity theft, financial loss, and reputational damage for both individual consumers and businesses. It’s crucial for everyone to understand the threat and take action to protect themselves.”
Kaspersky experts suggest the following to prevent falling victim to spam or phishing-based scams: “Only open emails and click links if you are sure you can trust the sender.”
“When a sender is legitimate, but the content of the message seems strange, it is worth checking with the sender via an alternative communication channel.”
“Check the spelling of a website’s URL if you suspect that you are faced with a phishing page. If you are, the URL may contain mistakes that are hard to spot at first glance, such as a 1 instead of I or 0 instead of O.”
“Use a proven security solution (https://apo-opa.info/3EQxD1D) when surfing the web. Thanks to access to international threat intelligence sources, these solutions are capable of spotting and blocking spam and phishing campaigns.”
