The human layer continues to be the most enticing attack vector for cybercriminals. Sadly, most organisations continue to neglect this easily penetrable entry point. Throughout 2021, the world continued to see significant year-on-year increases in phishing attacks. No industry vertical, size of business or geography was immune. The human layer was under attack in both professional settings and personal settings. Cybercriminals do not discriminate when they consider victims, as carefully constructed attacks target humans both at work and play, day or night, through various types of social engineering.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) continued to receive a record number of complaints from the American public: 847,376 reported complaints, which was a 7% increase from 2020, with potential losses exceeding $6.9 billion. Additionally, business email compromise incidents accounted for 19,954 complaints with an adjusted loss of nearly $2.4 billion. And these are just the reported incidents.
Industries are grappling with how to better develop their human defence layer to detect, protect and report suspicious actions before it’s too late and their systems are compromised.
