Well over half of targeted email attacks between April and June 2018 were aimed at individual contributors and low-level managers, according to a new report.
Secnic researchers discovered that individual contributors and low-level management along accounted for 60 % of highly targeted attacks that consisted primarily of malware and credential phishing. By comparison, higher management and executives received 23.5 % and 5.2 % of targeted attacks, severally.
The enterprise security firm noted that those findings show however higher management and executives sustained “a disproportionately massive share of attacks” given their smaller representation within the total workforce.
Email Attacks Are Surging Across Industries
These findings come back amid an current surge in malicious email messages: The researchers discovered a 36 % increase in email attacks between the primary and second quarters of 2018. whereas companies of each size were targeted, some industries, like retail, health care and government, experienced bigger rates of growth for business email compromise (BEC) than alternative sectors.
The report unconcealed that almost all corporations across all industries had been targeted by email fraudsters a minimum of once. the quantity of attacks rose by 85 % within the second quarter compared to the previous year. the expansion rates were even larger for the automotive and education industries, at 400 % and 250 %, severally.
How to Defend Against Targeted Attacks
Secnic advised security professionals to defend individual contributors, lower-level management and other staff members against targeted email attacks by partnering with a threat intelligence firm and leveraging a social media security solution to combat fake online accounts. Security teams should also consider creating a comprehensive security awareness program for the entire workforce.