Working from home makes people more susceptible to cyberattacks 75% of the cyber security experts surveyed believe that the new remote work setting makes successful cyberattacks more likely. This can also be seen in the click data: our analyses show that the click rate on phishing mails in decentralized organizations (including remote working) is significantly higher than in centralized organizations (with in-office working). Accordingly, most of the decision-makers surveyed also plan to increase or at least maintain their employee awareness measures with the switch to remote work. The corona crisis – a feast for cybercriminals Cybercriminals exploit crises – such as the current corona virus – and social instability for their own purposes and in times like these they ramp up the volume of their attacks. Analyses show a rapid increase in ransomware types this year, especially during the first lockdown in March 2020. The same applies to their success probability: in the first lockdown phase, the click rate for phishing mails rose considerably. Successful social engineering scams via virus references From the very first weeks of the pandemic, cybercriminals were feeding coronarelated content into phishing campaigns. Our analyses clearly show that this also results in a greater probability of success. Corona phishing mails or emails that address the introduction of remote tools top our ranking of the most successful phishing mails. While the average click rate is 29%, emails with the word „Corona“ in the subject show click rates of up to 79%. Unscrupulous attacks - critical infrastructure targeted Attacks on critical infrastructure organizations have increased significantly in the past year. The success rate of simulated phishing attacks – and thus also the risk of falling victim to a cyberattack – in hospitals, for example, is 30% higher than the average. Scruples are rare – attacks often focus on the manufacturing and supply chain for corona vaccines. Digital natives most frequent clickers of phishing mails In a separate study involving 5,000 participants we analyzed the public’s click behavior, taking demographic variables into account. The myth of the digital native suggests that younger users use information technology more safely. However, the results show that 18 to 29 year olds, with a click rate of 38%, click on phishing mails more often than any other age group, where the average is just 25%.
Sales Director DACH at SoSafe
Wirtschaftswissenschaften