Lookout’s 2020 Mobile Phishing
Report shows 37% sequential
increase in first quarter of 2020
ookout, a leader in mobile
L
security, has released its 2020
Mobile Phishing Spotlight Report
that reveals a 37% increase worldwide
in enterprise mobile phishing encounter
rate between the fourth quarter of 2019
and the first quarter of 2020. The report
also shows that unmitigated mobile
phishing threats could cost organisations
with 10,000 mobile devices as much as
US$35 million per incident, and up to
US$150 million for organisations with
50,000 mobile devices.
The report highlights the different
methods cybercriminals use to make
their mobile phishing campaigns
more lucrative, and provides data
on global encounter rates and the
potential financial risk per incident. The
phishing encounter rates are broken
down by region and by consumer and
enterprise, to provide a comprehensive
understanding of the current state of
mobile phishing.
Key highlights from the report include:
including SMS, social media and
messaging apps in addition to email
• Best practices for organisations of
any size to protect against and detect
mobile phishing attacks
“Smartphones and tablets are trusted
devices that sit at the intersection of
their owner’s personal and professional
identity,” said David Richardson, Vice
President of Product Management,
Lookout. “Cybercriminals are exploiting
the ability to socially engineer victims on
their mobile device in order to steal their
credentials or sensitive private data.”
Today, the number of people working
away from the office is at a record
high. In order to stay productive,
employees have turned to their
smartphones and tablets. Phishing
has been the most commonly used
method for cybercriminals to infiltrate
an organisation and businesses have
deployed user training and email
phishing security to combat them. But
with mobile devices, phishing risks
no longer simply hide in email, but in
SMS, messaging apps and social media
platforms. In addition, with a smaller form
factor and simplified user experience,
mobile devices also make it harder to
spot the tell-tale signs of a phishing
link – enabling a higher success rate
for the cybercriminals attacking mobile
compared to desktop devices.
“Phishing has evolved into a massive
problem that expands far beyond the
traditional email bait and hook,” said
Phil Hochmuth, Program Vice President
of Enterprise Mobility at IDC. “On a
small screen and with a limited ability
to vet links and attachments before
clicking on them, consumers and
business users are exposed to more
phishing risks than ever before. In a
mobile-first world, with remote work
becoming the norm, proactive defence
against these attacks is critical.” u
intelligent MOBILE SECURITY
• Enterprise phishing encounter rates
tracked quarterly show sequential
increases of 37.1% globally as well
as increases of 66.3% in North
America, 25.5% in EMEA and 27.7%
in Asia Pacific
• Examples of the potential financial
risk of up to US$150 million per
incident due to unmitigated phishing
risks for healthcare, manufacturing
and legal organisations
• Research synopsis of a real-world
phishing campaign that targeted
over 4,000 North American
banking customers
• Examples of phishing attack delivery
by a wide variety of mobile apps
58 Issue 28 |
www.intelligentciso.com