Phishing Attacks Inflict $687 Million in Losses in First Half

More than $687 million was lost worldwide because of phishing attacks in the first half of the year, according to RSA FraudAction Research Labs. This represents a 32 per cent increase in losses compared to the same period of 2011, and a slight decrease compared to the second half of the same year.

At the same time, phishing numbers marked a notable worldwide increase, with more than 32,000 attacks a month through the first half.

The attack duration median fell from 15.3 hours per attack to 11.72 hours per attack, lowering the monetary impact, though attack numbers kept climbing, according to the Anti-Phishing Working Group. If the hours per attack had remained the same, the phishing losses in the first half of the year would have exceeded $897 million.

“Compared with H2 2011, end of June numbers show a 19% increase as phishers heavily target the UK, U.S. and Canada ” and their associated brands ” with the same old online trickery that continues to plague the world,” RSA representatives said.

Brazil and South Africa placed fourth and fifth among countries targeted by phishing. One of the most significant increases in phishing volume was in Canada, where attacks increased nearly 400% in the first half of 2012, mainly because of the Canadian dollar, which strengthened relative to the US dollar.