EDITOR ’ S QUESTION

This year ' s report provides in-depth analysis , market insights , trend data and predictions for what lies ahead as organisations move toward strengthening their cyber-resiliency posture in the face of ever-increasing cyberattacks and cyberwarfare . Some highlights include :

Phishing and impersonated companies

• 770 % overall phishing activity spike during May 2021

• January – April 2021 saw a mere 9 % of phishing activity

• 54 % of all detected phishing URLs in 2021 were from top-targeted brands : Apple , Facebook , YouTube , Microsoft and Google

• eBay fell from being the number one impersonated brand in 2020 , dropping out of the top 10 completely in 2021 as pandemicrelated shortages eased

Infection Rates by Region

• Japan , the UK , North America and Australia saw infection rates drop by 51 % since the year prior

• The US held the largest number of malicious IP addresses and convictions ( 24.3 %)

The Netherlands had the highest number of convictions per bad IP address ( average : 526 ), meaning that each malicious IP address in the Netherlands performed more malicious activity on average than the average malicious IP address in other countries .

Remote and hybrid work environments , along with rapidly shifting world affairs , continue to alter how we interact and present new security challenges that open lucrative avenues for bad actors .

Last year , phishing attacks escalated across email , text and other communications platforms and new high-risk malicious URLs were found hiding behind proxy avoidance and anonymisers .

Alternatively , while browser-based cryptojacking may have practically disappeared , cryptomining malware shifted into the mainstream as cybercriminals continue looking for ways to compromise data and personal information .

" Businesses ' ability to prepare for and recover from threats will increase as they integrate cyber-resilience into their technologies , processes and people ," said Mark J . Barrenechea , OpenText CEO and CTO .

" With security risks escalating worldwide and a persistent state of ' unprecedented ' threats , compromises are inevitable . This year ' s findings reiterate the need for organisations to deploy strong multi-layered security defences to help them remain at the heart of cyber-resilience and circumvent even the most creative cybercriminals ."

" Cyber-resiliency is a top proactive priority for organisations worldwide ," said Craig Robinson , IDC Program Director , Security Services . " Better understanding the known threats will play a key role in building and maintaining a strong layered security approach ."

Tackling this , Intelligent CXO spoke to three leading experts about the best practice approach enterprises can take to email security . . .

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