Threats from phishing and malicious emails increased by 60% between July and October of this year, according to analysis from cyber protection firm, Acronis. It expects the average cost of a data breach to reach US$5 million by next year.

The firm’s research team also saw social engineering attacks jump in the last four months, accounting for 3% of all attacks. Leaked or stolen credentials, which allow attackers to easily execute cyber attacks and ransomware campaigns, were the cause of almost half of all reported breaches in the first half of 2022.

“The last few months have proven to be as complex as ever – with new threats constantly emerging and malicious actors continuing to use the same proven playbook for big payouts,” said Candid Wüest, vice-president of cyber protection research at Acronis. “Organisations must prioritise all-encompassing solutions when looking to mitigate phishing and other hacking attempts in the new year. Attackers are constantly evolving their methods, now using common security tools against us – like MFA that many companies rely on to protect their employees and businesses.”

Analysing the 50 most email-borne-attacked organisations revealed the top targeted industries were construction, retail, real estate, professional services and finance.

During this period, an average 7.7% of all endpoints tried to access malicious URLs in Q3 2022, a small reduction from 8.3% in Q2 2022.

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