- Kaspersky, a cybersecurity agency, reported that in the second quarter of 2020 about 300,000 Nigerian Small and Medium Enterprises faced phishing attacks.
- The study also indicated that a range of new tactics was also found — from HR dismissal emails to attacks posing as delivery notifications.
- Kaspersky’s study has shown that phishers launched highly targeted attacks in Q2 2020, with the majority focused on small businesses.
Kaspersky, a cybersecurity agency, reported that in the second quarter of 2020 about 300,000 Nigerian Small and Medium Enterprises faced phishing attacks. This was revealed in the Kaspersky’s latest Q2 2020 report on spam and phishing.
The study also indicated that a range of new tactics was also found — from HR dismissal emails to attacks posing as delivery notifications. The report detected 2,023,501 phishing attacks in South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, Nigeria, Rwanda and Ethiopia as a result of such tendencies.
Phishing is one of the oldest and most flexible forms of social engineering attacks. They are used in a number of ways and for various reasons to attract unsuspecting visitors to the web and manipulate them into entering personal data., Usually, the latter contains financial information such as bank account passwords or credit card numbers, or social media site login data.
READ ALSO: Nigeria Loses N127bn to Cybercrime Yearly – NITDA
Phishing attacks so far in Africa
This form of threat has affected South African users the most: there have been 616,666 phishing attacks reported in the country in 3 months.
- Kenya 514,361
- Egypt 492,532
- Nigeria 299,426
- Rwanda 68,931
- Ethiopia 31,585
Phishing is a powerful form of attack since it is performed on such a large scale. By sending huge email waves in the name of reputable organisations or endorsing false websites, fraudulent users raise their chances of success in chasing for credentials from innocent people. However, the first six months of 2020 showed a different dimension to this well-known type of attack.
As Kaspersky’s study has shown, phishers launched highly targeted attacks in Q2 2020, with the majority focused on small businesses. To draw publicity, fraudsters forged emails and websites from companies whose goods or services prospective victims might purchase.
Once a fraudster has access to the mailbox of an employee, they can use it to carry out more attacks on the company fo which the employee works.
