According to Barracuda Networks, business email compromise attacks have surged in 2020, alongside Covid-19 related scams seeking to lure victims into surrendering passwords or money. During the period of August to October 2020, Barracuda Networks found that the total number of targeted email threats was a whopping 2.3 million. Spear phishing attacks also grew during this period, whereas BEC detections grew by 5% from the period December 2018-February 2019.
The largest number of attacks were categorized as phishing, meaning that they involved the impersonation of a brand, organization, or vendor. Scamming attacks also compromised a third (36%) of Barracuda Network’s threat report. Scamming attacks this year capitalized on fear regarding the Covid-19 pandemic and used pandemic-related headlines to lure victims. In March, Barracuda recorded a 667% spike in Covid-19 related attacks, however, this number has remained stable since.
