By Jessica Ellis | March 2, 2023
Social media attacks targeting organizations closed out 2022 nearly 19% higher than Q4 of 2021, according to Fortra’s PhishLabs. Social platforms continue to act as a hotbed for malicious activity, leaving organizations of all sizes vulnerable to impersonation and abuse. As of Q4, businesses can expect an average of 72.54 attacks on social media per month.
PhishLabs analyzes hundreds of thousands of social media attacks every quarter to identify the top threats targeting enterprises, their brands, and their employees. In this post, we discuss the industries most prone to attack on social media and the top threat types found on those platforms.
Top Threat Types
In Q4, Impersonation represented the top threat type to businesses on social media with 36.42% of share of volume. Impersonation is frequently used as a malicious tactic due to the wide-array of brand content present on social platforms. Cyber criminals will use stolen trademarks and intellectual property to masquerade as a brand or even act as a well-known executive within a company. These malicious pages and posts can be created and removed quickly.
Cyber Threats, which includes hacking, contributed to 34.27% of Q4 volume. This is the greatest share of volume of Cyber Threats on social media since PhishLabs’ initial analysis in 2020.
Fraud maintained consistent attack volume QoQ at 28%. Looking at the category in further detail, nearly 40% of Fraud cases were Counterfeit Attacks. This threat type uses stolen or mimicked IP in conjunction with misleading sales offers in an effort to trick victims into buying fake goods or disclosing sensitive information. Counterfeit campaigns are especially prevalent during the holiday season when shopping activity is high and ..
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
