Google surprised at phishing success record

Phishing emails, often recognised for what they are by security professionals, have proven to be more effective than at first thought by a new Google study.

The research revealed that the best phishing websites worked with approximately  45 per cent of web visits. One in every seven people who visited these websites filled in their details – a much larger number than the researchers predicted. Even those sites that were blatantly fraudulent managed to fool three per cent of people.

The report says that the result from phishing attacks is a severe one. It said that criminals operating in this area tend to send an email claiming to be sent from its target to their database, making them far more likely to reply and also get hijacked.

Businesses are now being presented with major issues thanks to the results of the study. The report said:

“In order to prevent a hijacked account’s exploitation, the reaction time to the credential compromise needs to be even faster than previously thought.

“Hijackers’ extreme reactivity emphasises the need to perform an accurate, real-time login risk analysis at the time of login in order to detect hijacking attempts.”

Cyber security professionals may be able to recognise such websites, but not every business employs staff that are trained in this area. If just one employee falls foul of a phishing attack, that business may just find that it has caused itself a lot of trouble. Opening information security vacancies is the only way to stay safe in an age where phishing is far more successful than it should be.