Email Threats Spike 101%, Remains a Top Attack Vector

Trend Micro cloud-based email protection blocked 33.6 million threats last year

SYDNEY, June 23, 2022 – Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), a global cybersecurity leader, blocked over 33.6 million cloud email threats in 2021, a 101% increase on the previous year. This stark increase in attacks proves that email remains a top point of entry for cyber attacks.

Many Australian businesses faced spear phishing, business email compromise (BEC) and email-based ransomware attacks in 2021. Trend Micro’s recent research on the mounting number of cyber risks highlighted that 48% of local organisations don’t believe their method of assessing risk exposure is sophisticated enough, underlining the vulnerability of Australia’s corporate sector to increasingly insidious email threats.

To read a full copy of the Cloud App Security Threat Report, please visit: https:/www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/au/security/research-and-analysis/threat-reports/roundup/trend-micro-cloud-app-security-threat-report-2021

“Each year we see innovation in the threat landscape and an evolution of the corporate attack surface, but each year email remains a major threat to organisations,” said Mick McCluney, Technical Director at Trend Micro.“The best shot defenders have at mitigating these risks is by taking a platform-based approach, to shine a powerful light on threats and deliver streamlined prevention, detection and response without limits.”

The data was collected over the course of 2021 from products that supplement native protection in collaboration platforms such as Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.

Other key findings include:

• 16.5 million detected and blocked phishing attacks, a 138% increase as the hybrid workforce continued to be targeted
• 6.3 million credential phishing attacks, a 15% increase as phishing remains a primary means of compromise
• 3.3 million malicious files detected, including a 134% surge in known threats and a 221% increase in unknown malware

More positively, ransomware detections continued to decline by 43% year-over-year. This could be because attacks are becoming more targeted, along with Trend Micro’s successful blocking of ransomware affiliate tools such as Trickbot and BazarLoader.

Business email compromise (BEC) detections also fell by 11%. However, there was an 83% increase in BEC threats detected using Trend Micro’s AI-powered writing style analysis feature, indicating that these scams may be getting more sophisticated.

 

About Trend MicroTrend Micro, a global cybersecurity leader, helps make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Fuelled by decades of security expertise, global threat research, and continuous innovation, Trend Micro's cybersecurity platform protects hundreds of thousands of organisations and millions of individuals across clouds, networks, devices, and endpoints. As a leader in cloud and enterprise cybersecurity, the platform delivers a powerful range of advanced threat defence techniques optimised for environments like AWS, Microsoft, and Google, and central visibility for better, faster detection and response. With 7,000 employees across 65 countries, Trend Micro enables organisations to simplify and secure their connected world. http://www.trendmicro.com.au/