Without a doubt, email is something that we use constantly. We use it to be in contact with other people or with companies, but also to simply be able to register on a page and link the address. Precisely the fact that it is so widely used also has its risks, since hackers can launch multiple types of attack. In fact, according to the report that we echo, it is increasingly dangerous to use e-mail.
Email is more dangerous
Why is e-mail more dangerous ? According to the latest Trend Micro report, email malware has grown by 196%. It is an upward trend that has been repeating itself for years. Cybercriminals find in this medium a very useful option to be able to launch attacks and steal passwords or take control of a system.
In fact, Trend Micro claims that 74.1% of all threats they have blocked over the past year were email attacks. In addition, known malware increased by 134% per e-mail over the last year, while unknown malware increased by 221%. This shows us the real risk of using e-mail today if we do not take precautionary measures.
Among all the security threats they found through email, some notable ones were the Emotet Spam botnet, Panda Stealer (to steal cryptocurrencies) or Qakbot.
However, there was one type of attack via email that has decreased over the past year: ransomware . But there is an explanation for this, and that is that hackers have gone from sending many small-scale attacks against home users to targeting businesses and organizations in particular. This is where they can ask for a larger ransom and focus their efforts.
Another noteworthy point of the Trend Micro study is that there were more than 6 million attempts to steal passwords through Phishing attacks, which represents over 15% more than the previous year. It is a technique widely used by cybercriminals to compromise security.
What to do to avoid attacks
As you have seen, email has security risks and it is also something that has been increasing in recent years. Now, what can we do to protect ourselves and avoid problems that may affect our data and accounts? We are going to give a series of essential tips for it.
It is important that you have a good antivirus . We have seen in the Trend Micro report how they have detected many attacks against email. A good security program can help you maintain protection and prevent malware from reaching your device and compromising the system.
It is also essential to keep everything up to date . Many vulnerabilities can arise that compromise security. It is essential to always have all the patches installed and thus reduce the probability that an attacker can exploit a known bug
But without a doubt, the most essential thing is common sense . You should avoid making mistakes, such as clicking on a link that comes to you by email and you don’t really know who may be behind that email or downloading a file that may actually be malware. Spam mail can be dangerous and it is advisable to avoid problems.
