Over 1.5 crore social media phishing attacks in Q2 this year: report

New Delhi: Phishing attacks are becoming more and more common. India reported over 1.5 crore cyber attacks in the second quarter of 2022 alone.

A report by Norton Labs, a cyber security company, said it blocked an average of over 17.5 lakhs of such attacks per day. In the April-June period, the company faced over 900 million threats. That is around 10 million threats per day globally.

NortonLifeLock's global research team said there were 302,000 mobile threats globally and 78,000 ransomware attacks were also reported. Darren Shou, head of technology, said threat actors are using social media for phishing attacks because it is a low-effort and high-return way to target millions of people across the world.

He added that it is key to know how to spot the signs of a scam and keep a sharp eye on where requests for your information are coming from because social media is intertwined in our daily lives.

The team uncovered the top tactics of cyber criminals to encourage victims to reveal personal information. Classic login phishing pages are still the most common method. However, criminals are finding new ways to deceive social media users. Account lockouts are one such tactic in which the victim's account appears to be locked due to copyright violations.

Criminals are also leading victims to install malware by promising an increase in follower count or verified status. They also intercept temporary codes (OTPs) to gain access to profiles with two-factor authentication.