Social engineering takes center stage
Kroll Q3 Threat Landscape Report
What’s in this report from Kroll:
Despite cyberattacks continually making headlines, successful “human hacking,” or social engineering attacks, have escalated dramatically over the past quarter. In fact, Kroll’s threat intelligence team saw a 47% increase in business email compromise (BEC) cyberattacks in Q3.
Social engineering attacks like BEC have a huge impact on businesses, with the FBI’s latest Internet Crime Report stating businesses lost more than $2.7 billion due to BEC in 2022 alone. This increased volume of social engineering attacks is matched by a broadening range of approaches, whether that is via phone and SMS, novel email phishing scams or directly via Microsoft Teams using malware.
Key findings:
- Social engineering tactics increased dramatically, with significant increases in phishing (8%), valid accounts (9%) and voice phishing (3%).
- The professional services sector was the most targeted in Q3 at 27% of cases, particularly legal firms, fueled by a rise in BEC across all sectors.
- Email compromise is the most common threat type, increasing in activity since Q2 by 13%.
“With social engineering or ‘human hacking’ on the rise, it is critical that businesses take proactive…
