More than 709 million attempts to access phishing and fraudulent websites in 2023 were thwarted by Kaspersky’s anti-phishing system, which represents a 40% increase compared to the previous year’s figures. Messaging apps, artificial intelligence platforms, social media services, and cryptocurrency exchanges were among the routes most frequently exploited by threat actors to scam users.
Kaspersky’s annual analysis of the spam and phishing threat landscape has revealed a persistent trend for 2022: a significant increase in phishing attacks. This continued to escalate in 2023, growing by more than 40%. In addition to the significant increase in phishing activity seen in May and June, the number of attacks continued to increase throughout the year. This trend could be related to the onset of the holiday season, during which fraudsters commonly promote travel-related scams such as fake airline tickets, tours and tempting hotel deals.
The wide integration of technologies containing built-in GPT chats has provided fraudsters with new exploits. However, the attackers did not forget their proven tactics. High-profile releases, events and premieres have remained irresistible to phishers and fraudsters, whose fake websites prey on those eager to gain early or discounted access to the next big thing.
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In addition, Kaspersky experts have noted an increase in attacks spread through messaging platforms. Kaspersky solutions thwarted 62,127 redirect attempts via phishing and fraudulent links on Telegram, a remarkable 22% increase in such threats compared to last year.
“Phishing remains a prevalent threat in today’s digital environment and is constantly evolving to trick unsuspecting users. Vigilance and skepticism are our strongest defenses against falling victim to these malicious schemes. Be careful, verify and protect your digital identity before you click, ” comments Usman Qureshi, Country Representative for Pakistan at Kaspersky.
To learn more about the phishing threat landscape, visit Securelist.com. To avoid becoming a victim of phishing scams, Kaspersky experts recommend opening emails and clicking on links only if you are sure you can trust the sender. If you suspect that you are dealing with a phishing site, check the spelling of the website’s URL. Use a proven security solution like Kaspersky Premium when browsing the web. These solutions are able to detect and block spam and phishing campaigns.
