August Online Fraud Stats
07 Sep 12:17
RSA Security has published their monthly Online Fraud Intelligence Report for August.
Breakdown of Global Banking Brands Attacked by Phishing
- US - 73 per cent
- UK - 9 per cent
- Spain - 6 per cent
- Canada - 4 per cent
- Germany - 2 per cent
- Australia - 1 per cent
- Abu Dhabi - 1 per cent
- Italy - 1 per cent
- France - 1 per cent
- Ireland - 1 per cent
The fraction of non-US institutions increased by 6 per cent since July in comparison to the portion of US financial institutions targeted by phishing (73 per cent). August was the first month in which the share of non-US brands surpassed 25 per cent. RSA Security expects this trend to continue in the upcoming months.
Number of Brands Attacked Per Month
- March - 127
- LApril - 93
- May - 157
- June - 171
- July - 195
- August - 162
Although the overall number of phishing attacks grew in August, the number of targeted brands decreased by 20 per cent. As stated above, this indicates that fraudsters increased the intensity of attacks against a more limited number of targets.
Segmentation of US Banking Brands Attacked by Phishing
- US Credit Unions - 44 per cent
- Regional US Banks - 37 per cent
- Nationwide US Banks - 19 per cent
The composition of US brands targeted by phishing remained the same in August, with mainly credit unions and regional banks being targeted. The trend towards targeting smaller banks is very vivid, and likely to continue into 2007.
Top Hosting Countries
- US - 48 per cent
- Germany - 10 per cent
- Australia - 10 per cent
- Estonia - 9 per cent
- Sweden - 8 per cent
- India - 5 per cent
- South Korea - 3 per cent
- France - 2 per cent
- Russia - 2 per cent
- UK - 2 per cent
For the first time in several months the portion of phishing attacks hosted in the US is less than 50 per cent. Four other countries comprise almost 40 per cent of the phishing hosting, while the last five countries account for only 15 per cent. The share of Estonia and Australia has increased significantly this month while China, a permanent top 10 country, dropped to the 16th
place and has fallen off the chart.
Summary
The amount of phishing attacks continued to increase in August as did the global spreading of attacks. However, while the past few months had seen a steady increase in the number of brands targeted by phishers, August actually showed a 20 per cent drop month on month in the number of targeted brands. According to the AFCC, this drop is caused by certain financial institutions being attacked more heavily during August than in previous months. As a rule - when fraudsters detect a certain vulnerability, they exploit it as much as possible. During August specific targets were detected as "cashable" by fraudsters and therefore they focused their efforts on those few "weakest links".
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Taken from Information Security Bulletin.