Yahoo was the most frequently imitated brand by cybercriminals to steak individuals’ personal information or payment credentials during October, November and December 2022.
The brand climbed 23 places, accounting for 20 percent of all attempts, according to a report by Check Point Research (CPR), the Threat Intelligence arm of Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd.
CPR found cybercriminals distributing emails with subject lines indicating awards or prize money won from senders such as ‘Awards Promotion’ or ‘Award Center’. The content of the email suggested that the prize money or awards was organised by Yahoo.
The recipients were asked to send personal information such as bank details to claim the prize money or awards to their account. The email further instructed the recipient to keep the contents confidential due to legal issues.
The technology sector in general was most likely to be imitated by brand phishing in the last quarter of 2022, followed by shipping industries and social networks. DHL was followed by Yahoo with 16 percent of brand phishing attempts, Microsoft took the third spot.
“We are seeing hackers trying to bait their targets by offering awards and significant amounts of money. Remember, if it looks too good to be true, it almost always is. You can protect yourself from a brand phishing attack by not clicking on suspicious links or attachments and by always checking the URL of the page you are directed to. Look for misspellings and do not volunteer unnecessary information,” said Omer Dembinsky, Data Group Manager at Check Point Software.
Top 10 most imitated brands
- Yahoo (20%)
- DHL (16%)
- Microsoft (11%)
- Google (5.8%)
- LinkedIn (5.7%)
- WeTransfer (5.3%)
- Netflix (4.4%)
- FedEx (2.5%)
- HSBC (2.3%)
- WhatsApp (2.2%)
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