Emails that impersonate internal communications are most likely to deceive employees.
HR and IT related emails are the top choices for phishing scams, according to new research.
KnowBe4’s Q1 Phishing Report found that HR-related phishing accounted for 42% of messages, while IT for 30%.
Phishing emails from HR or IT departments that prompt dress code changes, tax and healthcare updates, training notifications and other similar actions are often effective in deceiving employees as they can affect a user’s work, evoke an immediate response and can cause a person to react before thinking about the validity of the email.
Also more personal phishing email attacks, such as tax, healthcare and ApplePay, were also effective. “Emails coming from an internal department such as HR or IT are especially harmful to organisations since they appear to be coming from a trusted source and can convince employees to engage quickly before confirming their legitimacy, exposing the company to security vulnerabilities,” said Stu Sjouwerman, CEO of KnowBe4.
Written by
Dan Raywood
Senior Editor
SC Media UK
Dan Raywood is a B2B journalist with more than 20 years of experience, including covering cybersecurity for the past 16 years. He has extensively covered topics from Advanced Persistent Threats and nation-state hackers to major data breaches and regulatory changes.
He has spoken at events including 44CON, Infosecurity Europe, RANT Conference, BSides Scotland, Steelcon and ESET Security Days.
Outside work, Dan enjoys supporting Tottenham Hotspur, managing mischievous cats, and sampling craft beers.
