Google, Amazon, And Facebook Become Companies With Highest Phishing Targets

Illustration of phishing perpetrators (photo: Kaspersky photo)

JAKARTA - A Kaspersky study conducted on the 25 most popular global companies revealed that Google, Facebook, and Amazon are the brands most often targeted by phishing attacks.

Where, the global cybersecurity company found that in the first half of 2024, people around the world were trying to access fake resources that mimic these brands nearly 26 million times, nearly 40 percent more intense than the January-June 2023 period.

Kaspersky's solution has even blocked more than 4 million attempts worldwide to access phishing websites designed to trick users into providing information on their Google accounts.

Phishing for Google has more than tripled, showing 243 percent growth in the first half of 2024 compared to last year.

After Google, there are about 3.7 million attempts on Facebook users, while Amazon is in third place with around 3 million. Microsoft and DHL complete the top five with 2.8 million and 2.6 million efforts, respectively.

PayPal, Mastercard, Apple, Netflix, and Instagram are among the top 10 brands targeted by cybercriminals to earn credentials and money by 2024.

This year there has been a significant increase in phishing efforts targeting Google. If a phishing actor gains access to a Gmail account, they have the potential to be able to access multiple services, making it the main target, "said Olga Svistunova, security expert at Kaspersky.

Other brands are not in the top 10, but are increasingly being targeted including HSBC, which saw an eight-fold increase to 240,000 phishing attempts by 2024, and eBay, which saw a three-fold increase to more than 300,000 attacks.

Meanwhile, Airbnb, American Express, and LinkedIn also recorded an increase of 174 percent, 137 percent, and 122 percent, respectively.