Below is a summary of RSA’s October Online Fraud Report.
October was Cyber Security Awareness Month. A public relations effort made by several US-based government bodies to increase security-literacy across the tiers that make up our digital society. By encouraging each and every Internet user to “Stop, Think, Connect,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA), and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) hope to increase security within the home, business environment, and ultimately within the entire nation. While this effort was founded in the U.S., its aspirations of increasing security literacy among the general public could easily be embraced across the globe.
Ironically, October also marks a major milestone for RSA, reaching the official shut down of over 500,000 phishing attacks around the globe. Sometimes viewed as one of the oldest scams in the book, phishing is still a very popular method among cybercriminals.
RSA recently estimated that worldwide losses from phishing attacks alone during H1 2011 amounted to over $520 million, and losses incurred from phishing attacks during the 12-month period of H2 2010 through H1 2011 reached nearly $1 billion.
Phishing Attacks per Month
The number of phishing attacks identified by RSA in September increased by 45%, setting a new all-time high of 38,970 attacks. As in the month prior, this increase was largely attributed to repeated attacks on a handful of large financial institutions which have been heavily targeted throughout the past few months.
Number of Brands Attacked
The total number of brands attacked decreased 15%, dropping from 351 targeted brands in August to 300 brands in September. Last month, no new brands endured their first phishing attack, compared to seven newly-targeted brands in August. Monthly counts of newly-targeted brands last year hovered around 20 to 25 entities per month indicating a slowdown in the trend of attacks on new targets.
US Bank Types Attacked
In September, the portion of targeted brands among U.S. credit unions dropped from 19% to 6%. In contrast, the portion of targeted brands among regional U.S. banks increased 5%, while attacks against nationwide U.S. banks increased 8%. Nationwide banks continue to be the most lucrative target among phishers likely because their customer bases are large and geographically dispersed.
Top Hosting Countries
The U.S. hosted two out of three worldwide phishing attacks in September. Since September 2010, the only countries that have consistently hosted the highest portions of phishing attacks have been the U.S., UK, and Germany.
Top Countries by Attack Volume
The U.S. and UK continue to remain the top two countries targeted by the highest volume of phishing attacks. In September, they endured 79% of the world’s phishing attacks. Brazil, Canada, and South Africa remained among the top five countries in September in terms of phishing attack volume.
Top Countries by Attacked Brands
U.S. and UK brands accounted for 43% of all the brands targeted worldwide by phishing in September.
The full report can be found here.
The RSA September Online Fraud Report Summary is here.
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Brian Pennington 