Mimecast, a leading global Human Risk Management platform, has published its Global Threat Intelligence Report 2024 H1, highlighting the top cybersecurity threats faced by organizations. The report reveals that malicious links and AI-enabled bots are among the most significant threats to cyber defenses, with small businesses being disproportionately affected.
One of the key findings is the surge in malicious link attacks, which increased by 133% in Q1 2024 and 53% in Q2 compared to the same period in 2023. These attacks often employ multiple layers of false information, requiring victims to interact with links, respond to CAPTCHAs, and engage with fake multi-factor authentication requests.
AI-enabled scams are also on the rise, with attackers using generative AI to create phishing templates. One example is a campaign targeting Australian law firms that used confusing URLs in email messages to send users to an intermediate page, which then redirected them to a fake Microsoft login page to access credentials.
The report also notes that small businesses continue to be the primary target for cyber threats, with employees at both small and medium-sized businesses seeing more than twice the number of threats compared to those at large enterprises. The average number of threats per user (TPU) declined by about a third, dropping from 19 TPU in Q4 2023 to 14 TPU in the latest quarter.
Mick Paisley, Chief Security & Resilience Officer at Mimecast, emphasizes the importance of optimizing email security to achieve cost efficiencies and robust protection against emerging threats. The report offers actionable steps for organizations of all sizes to improve their cyber defenses and mitigate these threats.
Overall, the Mimecast Global Threat Intelligence Report 2024 H1 serves as a valuable resource for organizations seeking to stay ahead of the ever-evolving threat landscape and protect themselves from malicious links, AI-enabled scams, and other emerging cybersecurity threats.
Source: https://www.darkreading.com/cyberattacks-data-breaches/malicious-links-ai-enabled-tools-and-attacks-on-smbs-among-top-cybersecurity-threats-in-h1-mimecast-global-threat-intelligence-report