CircleID

The MarkMonitor Fraud Intelligence Report for the first quarter of 2012 is now available. The findings are:

Phishing Attacks Extended a Growth Trend to Three Quarters – Phish attack volume jumped 28% from the previous quarter to 166,022 attacks.

Brands Targeted Continued to Grow – The number of targeted brands increased 14% from the fourth quarter to 587.

Attacks per Brand Also Continued to Grow over the Last Three Quarters – Attacks per brand volume grew 12% from Q4 2011 to 283.

Payment Services Returned to Its Position as the Second Most Popular Phishing Sector – The Payment Services sector returned to its position as the second most phished industry with 22% of attacks. The Financial sector continued to be the most phished industry, accounting for 38% of phish attacks. The Retail/Service sector dropped to third place with 14% of all phish sites. Retail/Service phishing declined 33% from the previous quarter.

Several Industry Sectors Showed Major Increases – Payment Services phish attacks jumped 73% to 35,810 attacks. Social Networking phish jumped 221% to 9,974 attacks. ISP phish grew 166% to 8,352 attacks. Government sector phish increased 82% from the previous quarter to 2,242 attacks.

Most Phishing Attacks Target Brands from Five Countries – The U.S., China, Brazil, Spain and the U.K. accounted for 90% of phishing attacks in Q1 2012. The share of phishing attacks targeting American brands grew to 59% from 48% in the previous quarter, while the share of attacks targeting Chinese brands declined to 13% from 25%.

Five Countries Host Over 2/3 of Phishing Attacks – The top five phish-hosting countries — the U.S., Germany, Hong Kong, Russia and the U.K. — accounted for 68% of phishing sites this quarter. The share of phishing attacks hosted in Hong Kong declined to 4% from 11% in the previous quarter.

Phish Attacks by Industry Sectors – Q1 2012 (Source: MarkMonitor Fraud Intelligence Report)

For more detail, download the report here:
MarkMonitor Fraud Intelligence Report, Q1 2012 [PDF]

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Related topics: Cyberattack, Malware, Security