Report: Microsoft was the most frequently targeted brand by cybercriminals

According to Check Point Research’s Brand Phishing Report for Q3 2020, Microsoft was the most imitated brand for phishing attempts by cybercriminals in Q3 2020. Email phishing grew significantly in the past quarter and cybercriminals were trying to steal Microsoft Office 365 credentials as most of the employees were working remotely.

“In this past quarter, we saw the highest increase in email phishing attacks of all platforms compared to Q2, with Microsoft being the most impersonated brand. This has been driven by threat actors taking advantage of the mass migration to remote working forced by the Covid-19 pandemic, to target employees with fake emails asking them to reset their Microsoft Office 365 credentials. As always, we encourage users to be cautious when divulging personal data and credentials to business applications, and to think twice before opening email attachments or links, especially emails that claim to from companies, such as Microsoft or Google, who are most likely to be impersonated,” said Maya Horowitz, Director, Threat Intelligence & Research, Products at Check Point.

The top brands are ranked by their overall appearance in brand phishing attempts:

1. Microsoft (related to 19% of all brand phishing attempts globally)
2. DHL (9%)
3. Google (9%)
4. PayPal (6%)
5. Netflix (6%)
6. Facebook (5%)
7. Apple (5%)
8. Whatsapp (5%)
9. Amazon (4%)
10. Instagram (4%)

Source: Microsoft