Successful Cybercriminals Require Your Help

Most cybercriminals target people, not infrastructure: More than 99% of emails distributing malware from 2018 into 2019 required human interaction to click links, open documents, accept security warnings, or complete other tasks to effectively compromise an organization. Instead of targeting systems, criminals focus on people, their roles, and data they can access.

The data comes from Proofpoint, where for 18 months researchers observed attack trends to compile the “Human Factor 2019” report. What they found was an increasing sophistication and prevalence of social engineering across businesses as attackers shift from smash-and-grab ransomware campaigns to well-crafted business email compromise schemes and domain fraud.