Research carried out by cyber security firm, ESET, shows that the media sector has been hit the hardest by cyber crime with 39 reported incidents in the first quarter of this year, followed by online technology and telecoms, retailers and manufacturers.

Out of all the incidents reported, phishing was by far the biggest incident type with 2,694 cases reported, which was 1,350 more than unauthorised access in second place. Ransomware and verbal disclose of personal data followed.

Q2 of 2021 saw the highest number of cyber security incidents with 737, possibly due to people working online from home due to COVID restrictions and a number of experts reporting a 105% increase in ransomware attacks in 2021 y-o-y.

Jake Moore, global cyber security advisor at ESET, commented: “Clever phishing attempts are increasing and can even deceive those who are aware of them. Reading something which applies pressure or urgency to verify or hand over information, can easily make people overlook the scam, which often shows no obvious or immediate clues. Verifying authentic emails has never been more important but remains your best bet in beating the fraudsters. Criminals continue to use emails as their number one attack vector of choice in the hope that they can install malware or take over email accounts, masquerading as someone known to the victim to siphon off sensitive information.”

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