The phishers of the world continue to steal brand images in e-mailed attempts to fool consumers into revealing account information, as the number of hijacked brands rose to 154 in July, up 20% from June, the Anti-Phishing Working Group reports.
The increase has coincided with more phishing attacks on smaller organizations. "In a year, the number of brands has more than doubled, illustrating that online criminals are simply not settling for the large, popular organizations and financial institutions,” says Dan Hubbard, vice president of security research at Websense Inc., a provider of web site security systems and a member of the APWG. “The increase in the complexity of attacks goes hand in hand with the massive growth in phishing web sites and the targeted, broad selection of brands that has followed."
The July increase in attacks on brands occurred despite a drop in the number of reported phishing campaigns, to 23,670 from 28,571 in June, the APWG says. But the July level was still higher than the average of the prior 12 months, it adds.
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