Abnormal Security, the leading AI-native cloud email security platform, today released its H1 2024 Email Threat Report, revealing how QR code attacks, or “quishing” attacks, have emerged as a popular tactic among cybercriminals, with no signs of slowing down.
Although phishing emails have grown in sophistication over time, the end goal has stayed the same: trick targets into divulging sensitive information. QR code attacks are the latest evolution of traditional phishing, where threat actors use social engineering to manipulate targets into interacting with malicious QR codes. In doing so, they may unknowingly provide details that enable the attacker to compromise accounts and launch further attacks.
Targeted QR Code Attacks On the Rise
Examining data collected during the second half of 2023, Abnormal identified attackers’ preferred quishing targets. While every employee is at risk, C-Suite executives were 42 times more likely to receive QR code attacks than the average employee.
Cybercriminals also seem to have a favorite industry to target, with the construction and engineering industry experiencing quishing attacks at a rate 19 times higher than any other vertical. Further, small organizations with 500 or fewer mailboxes also experience these attacks at a rate 19 times higher than any other size company.
In the research report, Abnormal also identified key themes that cybercriminals are using to execute QR code phishing attacks. The most popular are related to multi-factor authentication and access to shared documents—approaches that accounted for 27% and 21% of all QR code attacks respectively. In each of these instances, threat actors attempt to compel recipients to scan a QR code within a fraudulent email, which is linked to a seemingly legitimate website that then prompts the victim to enter login credentials or other sensitive details. The perpetrator can then use the credentials provided to compromise the target’s account and steal data, launch additional attacks, or move laterally to connected applications.
BEC and VEC Attacks Continue to Grow
The report also revealed that business email compromise (BEC) and vendor email compromise (VEC) attacks have grown substantially, with BEC doubling in frequency and VEC jumping 50% year-over-year. Additional findings from the Abnormal team include:
- BEC attacks increased by 108% from 2022 to 2023. The rate of these attacks peaked in October with a monthly average of 14.57 attacks per 1,000 mailboxes.
- Larger organizations have the highest probability of BEC attacks. Organizations with more than 50,000 employees have a nearly 100% chance of experiencing at least one BEC attack every week. However, organizations of all sizes are at risk—even organizations with fewer than 1,000 employees have a 70% probability of receiving at least one BEC attack per week.
- The construction and retail industries are most targeted by VEC. Seventy-six percent of organizations in the construction and engineering industry received at least one VEC attack in the second half of 2023, while 66% of retailers and consumer goods manufacturers were targeted during that same period.
- The percentage of organizations targeted by VEC each month in 2023 never dropped below 32%, indicating that threat actors are continuing to see success impersonating third parties in advanced attacks.
You can download the full H1 2024 Email Threat Report, “Phishing Frenzy: C-Suite Receives 42x More QR Code Attacks Than Average Employee”, here.
You can learn more about how Abnormal Security stops QR code attacks here.
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This entry was posted on February 6, 2024 at 9:54 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Abnormal Security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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C-Suite Receives 42x More QR Code Attacks Than Average Employee: Abnormal Security
Abnormal Security, the leading AI-native cloud email security platform, today released its H1 2024 Email Threat Report, revealing how QR code attacks, or “quishing” attacks, have emerged as a popular tactic among cybercriminals, with no signs of slowing down.
Although phishing emails have grown in sophistication over time, the end goal has stayed the same: trick targets into divulging sensitive information. QR code attacks are the latest evolution of traditional phishing, where threat actors use social engineering to manipulate targets into interacting with malicious QR codes. In doing so, they may unknowingly provide details that enable the attacker to compromise accounts and launch further attacks.
Targeted QR Code Attacks On the Rise
Examining data collected during the second half of 2023, Abnormal identified attackers’ preferred quishing targets. While every employee is at risk, C-Suite executives were 42 times more likely to receive QR code attacks than the average employee.
Cybercriminals also seem to have a favorite industry to target, with the construction and engineering industry experiencing quishing attacks at a rate 19 times higher than any other vertical. Further, small organizations with 500 or fewer mailboxes also experience these attacks at a rate 19 times higher than any other size company.
In the research report, Abnormal also identified key themes that cybercriminals are using to execute QR code phishing attacks. The most popular are related to multi-factor authentication and access to shared documents—approaches that accounted for 27% and 21% of all QR code attacks respectively. In each of these instances, threat actors attempt to compel recipients to scan a QR code within a fraudulent email, which is linked to a seemingly legitimate website that then prompts the victim to enter login credentials or other sensitive details. The perpetrator can then use the credentials provided to compromise the target’s account and steal data, launch additional attacks, or move laterally to connected applications.
BEC and VEC Attacks Continue to Grow
The report also revealed that business email compromise (BEC) and vendor email compromise (VEC) attacks have grown substantially, with BEC doubling in frequency and VEC jumping 50% year-over-year. Additional findings from the Abnormal team include:
You can download the full H1 2024 Email Threat Report, “Phishing Frenzy: C-Suite Receives 42x More QR Code Attacks Than Average Employee”, here.
You can learn more about how Abnormal Security stops QR code attacks here.
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This entry was posted on February 6, 2024 at 9:54 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Abnormal Security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.