‘Brand Abuse’ Attacks Spiked to 2/3 of Q1 Web Fraud: Outseer

Cyberthreats of “brand abuse” where hackers impersonate companies online were 68% of Q1 fraud attacks, up from 21% in Q4, reported Outseer Thursday. The payment authentication vendor, which claims “visibility” into 41,000 global cyberattacks, attributes this to the increased use during the COVID-19 pandemic of social media, web publishing and cloud-based collaboration tools. Phishing-based threats were 25% of Q1 attacks. The U.S. had three-quarters of global ISPs' “hosting phishing attacks," it said. “It comes as no surprise that fraud attack volume continues to grow at a record pace, considering the pronounced shift to digital commerce throughout the pandemic,” said Outseer Chief Marketing Officer Armen Najarian.