When scammers try to steal sensitive information or banking data through phishing, they increasingly choose to impersonate Yahoo to deceive their victims, according to new research.
Check Point Research researchers examined the most imitated brands for phishing attacks in the fourth quarter of 2022. According to the report, one-fifth (20%) of all phishing attacks in October, November, and December 2022 were using Yahoo’s identity, which climbed 23 places to the top, surprising everyone.
Scammers often sent victims emails informing them that they had won a “prize” or “prize cash” after a contest hosted by Yahoo. Victims were asked to share their personal information, including bank details, in order to receive the prize, which could reach hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Victims were also warned not to talk to people about it due to “legal issues”.
Check Point Research says that overall, the tech industry is the most imitated sector.
DHL was the second most copied brand, accounting for 16% of all attacks.
The fourth quarter of the year is seen as a holiday season in many parts of the world, with Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas and New Year’s, and the significantly increased shopping during this period is thought to be one of the reasons for the increase in imitation of the DHL identity.
Microsoft ranks third with 11%. After briefly lowering the list, LinkedIn returned to fifth place, taking 5.7% of all phishing attacks.
Phishing remains one of the most popular (and successful) forms of cyber attacks and cyber fraud. Criminals can target uninformed or distracted users, tricking them into providing a lot of sensitive information. In some cases, they can even get them to download and run various malware, which can lead to even more dangerous attacks, such as ransomware.
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