Lookalike domains are being leveraged by cybercriminals to execute cyber-attacks such as Business Email Compromise (BEC), phishing, and online fraud campaigns. Hence, researchers have recently evaluated the use of fraudulent sites by cybercriminals.
It has been observed by researchers that there has been an increase in fraudulent websites using local events and occasions like Amazon Prime Day or the presidential elections in order to lure in victims.
- In the third quarter of the year, there has been a significant change in the sectors that were targeted by cybercriminals. The attackers have moved their focus on sectors like e-commerce, IT, and Telecom along with product and mining.
- Approximately 4,000 new phishing and fraudulent websites are created every month using the top 10 brands including the likes of Microsoft and Apple.
Recent attacks on Government websites
- Numerous FBI related domains were registered recently which indicated the potential for future operational activity.
- In the last month, spoofing of US census bureau domains was discovered for future malicious campaigns, including phishing and credential theft attacks.
The scope of spoofed websites for brand impersonations has widened due to a lack of awareness and timely actions. The frequency and success rate of spoofed domains have truly become a major risk for brands. Consequently, our internal experts have recommended organizations to be careful and vigilant by avoiding suspicious and unknown links and checking the domains to identify lookalike phishing pages.
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