Phishing attacks grow by 40% in 2023, Kaspersky reports

Kaspersky’s anti-phishing technology prevented over 709 million attempts to visit phishing and scam websites in 2023, a 40% rise over the same period the year before.

Social media sites, messaging applications, cryptocurrency exchanges, and artificial intelligence platforms were some of the channels that threat actors most commonly used to trick consumers.

A recurring pattern for 2022 was a noticeable rise in phishing attempts, according to Kaspersky’s yearly review of the spam and phishing threat environment.

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In 2023, this increased even more, rising by more than 40%. Aside from a notable uptick in phishing activity in May and June, the number of assaults increased consistently during the year.

This pattern may be connected to the start of the Christmas season when con artists frequently spread travel-related frauds, such as phony airline tickets, vacation packages, and alluring hotel offers.

The increasing use of devices with integrated GPT conversations has given con artists new targets to target. Attackers haven’t forgotten their tried-and-true strategies, though.

Additionally, Kaspersky experts have observed a surge in attacks spread via messaging platforms. Kaspersky Solutions thwarted 62,127 attempts to redirect via phishing and scam links on Telegram, a notable 22% increase in such threats from the last year.

Country Representative for Pakistan at Kaspersky, Usman Qureshi remarked that Phishing remains a prevalent threat in today’s digital landscape, constantly evolving to deceive unsuspecting users. Vigilance and skepticism are our strongest defenses against falling victim to these malicious schemes. Stay cautious, verify before you click, and protect your digital identity.

To avoid becoming a victim of phishing-based scams, Kaspersky experts advise that you only open emails and click links if you are sure you can trust the sender. Check the spelling of a website’s URL if you suspect you are faced with a phishing page.

Use a proven security solution such as Kaspersky Premium when surfing the web. These solutions are capable of spotting and blocking spam and phishing campaigns.