According to the Brand Phishing Report for Q1 courtesy of Check Point, Microsoft holds the distinction for being the Most Imitated Brand in Q1 2021. For those not familiar, the report highlights the brands that are frequently imitated by criminals every quarter. The report has Microsoft on top, with 39% of phishing attempts related to the technology company. However, their numbers are slightly less than the 43% Microsoft had in Q4 2020 again as the most imitated brand. DHL was the second most impersonated brand, with 18% of all phishing attempts targeted.
The reasons behind both the brands remaining in the top spots are readily apparent. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is now more dependent than ever on working remotely. Microsoft is increasingly vulnerable to impersonation since more and more people are utilizing their services for work with as many as 145 million people using Teams/Office 365 to stay connected. Similarly, as most people are shifting to ordering online, bad actors target companies like DHL and Amazon (18% and 5%, respectively). The report highlighted that the technology industry would remain the most targeted by brand phishing, with shipping becoming more of a target. The most surprising entry in the report is the inclusion of the banking industry in the top three sectors affected by the scams. Wells Fargo and Chase, who are also in the top ten brands, are pointed out as favorites for phishing scammers.
The brand phishing attacks prey on individuals' lack of Security Awareness by utilizing identical looking websites/landing pages that people trust. The hackers also use a similar domain name or URL to ensure that the targeted user gets tricked completely. The phony website often leads you to a form that asks for user credentials or payment details. As we continue to deal with bad actors cloning well-known brand's websites and URL's it is imperative to test your employees' security awareness to help determine if your organization's security posture. PhishingBox gives a suite of security tools to implement a security awareness training program, including threat protection tools for end-users and security staff. If you would like to see how to protect your employee's data from bad actors, you can schedule a demo today!
The Top 10 Impersonated Brands Q1 2021:
1. Microsoft (related to 39% of all brand phishing attempts globally)
2. DHL (18%)
3. Google (9%)
4. Roblox (6%)
5. Amazon (5%)
6. Wells Fargo (4%)
7. Chase (2%)
8. LinkedIn (2%)
9. Apple (2%)
10. Dropbox (2%)
