Bitdefender has released new research revealing that phishing and malware campaigns targeting Gulf countries have surged by approximately 130% on average following the escalation of the war in Iran.
Researchers observed a sustained spike in malicious email activity beginning February 28, with campaigns quickly doubling and peaking at nearly four times pre-war levels.
Key findings:
- Threat actors are delivering a mix of remote access trojans, spyware, and fileless attacks that execute in memory
- The attacks rely heavily on business-themed lures, including invoices, contracts, banking communications, and delivery notifications
- No confirmed state-sponsored attribution; however, phishing is often a precursor to more complex attacks, enabling initial access to targeted environments.
You can read the research here: https://www.bitdefender.com/en-gb/blog/hotforsecurity/gulf-countries-phishing-surge
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This entry was posted on March 25, 2026 at 9:13 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Bitdefender. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Bitdefender Research Shows 130% Increase in Attacks Targeting Gulf Countries
Bitdefender has released new research revealing that phishing and malware campaigns targeting Gulf countries have surged by approximately 130% on average following the escalation of the war in Iran.
Researchers observed a sustained spike in malicious email activity beginning February 28, with campaigns quickly doubling and peaking at nearly four times pre-war levels.
Key findings:
You can read the research here: https://www.bitdefender.com/en-gb/blog/hotforsecurity/gulf-countries-phishing-surge
Share this:
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Related
This entry was posted on March 25, 2026 at 9:13 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Bitdefender. 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.