In 2024, over 193,000 individuals in the United States reported encountering phishing attacks. This figure had decreased compared to the previous year, when the number of phishing attacks nationwide amounted to nearly 300,000. However, in 2020 and 2019, this number was relatively low, around 241 thousand and 114 thousand, respectively.

In the 4th quarter of 2024, over 989,000 unique phishing attacks were detected worldwide, representing a slight increase from the preceding quarter. By far, the number of unique phishing sites has seen the most significant jump between the second and the third quarters of 2020, from nearly 147,000 to approximately 572,000. This figure is based on the number of the unique base URLs of the phishing sites.

A 2021 survey revealed that 20 percent of the organizations based in Australia experienced ten or more successful phishing attacks in the measured year. In comparison, 15 percent of the organizations in Germany experienced a similar number of successful phishing attacks. Furthermore, 43 percent of Japanese companies did not encounter successful phishing attacks in 2021.

During a survey conducted between August and October 2020, it was found that ** percent of all spear-phishing attacks worldwide were conducted during the working week, on days where most businesses are running. Only ** percent of attacks happened on Saturday and Sundays.

In 2024, the majority of detected phishing e-mails targeted organizational assets. According to research of 386,000 phishing e-mails, 65 percent of sent phishing e-mails targeted organizational assets. Additionally, 35 percent of the phishing e-mails were directed toward personal assets.

Word documents made up ** percent of files attached to spear phishing e-mail attacks in Japan in 2020, while compressed files accounted for about ********* of attached files. A breakdown of compressed files attached to spear phishing e-mails shows that JavaScript files accounted for the majority of cases during that year. The number of spear phishing e-mail attacks recorded by the police in Japan in 2020 amounted to almost **** thousand.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, companies worldwide paid, on average, nearly 554 thousand U.S. dollars of ransom. Compared to the previous quarter, the figure saw an increase of approximately 280 thousand U.S. dollars.

During the fourth quarter of 2024, nearly 23 percent of phishing attacks worldwide targeted social media. Web-based software services and webmail were targeted by over 23 percent of registered phishing attacks. Furthermore, financial institutions accounted for 12 percent of attacks.

Phishing, ransomware, and business malware have been the most widespread types of cyberattacks in the United States, resulting in data compromises. In 2024, 455 cases of phishing and its variations were detected. Ransomware followed in the second place, with 188 attacks.

Network security is the most common artificial intelligence (AI) use case for cybersecurity, as ** percent of surveyed IT executives reported the use of AI for this purpose as of 2019. Data security and endpoint security come next with ** percent and ** percent reported use respectively. Phishing: a deceptive form of cyberattacks   Phishing, a form of cyberattack that uses disguised email as a weapon, is ranked as one of the most concerning cyberthreats worldwide. The goal of phishing is to deceive the email recipient into believing that the message is legitimate and convince them to give away a form of their identity – be it their credit card details or business login data. Over 165 thousand unique phishing sites were discovered worldwide in the first quarter of 2020 alone and hundreds of notable brand and legitimate entities were attacked just in the first month of 2020. A slight stall in global cybersecurity spending   Businesses and individuals have been spending on security solution to counter cybercrimes such as phishing attacks. Worldwide spending on cybersecurity has been growing in recent years and is expected to continue to grow in 2020, albeit at a compromised speed due to the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Total spending for 2020 is forecast to reach almost ** billion U.S. dollars, as opposed to a previously predicted ** billion.

In a 2024 survey, when asked whether online scams and phishing have become more sophisticated due to the use of artificial intelligence (AI), around 36 percent stated they had become much more sophisticated. Another 36 percent believed they became somewhat more sophisticated, while only two percent said the scams were much less sophisticated.

Incidents of data breaches in the Philippines reached roughly 0.7 million during the fourth quarter of 2024, indicating a decrease from the previous quarter. The number of data breaches peaked in the second quarter of 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Challenges in cybersecurity As one of the countries in Asia with a high internet penetration, Filipino online users have been surfing the web to access social media and other entertainment platforms. Recently, particularly at the height of the global pandemic, Filipino internet users also adopted online shopping and digital payment services for their essential and non-essential needs. With the increased digitalization of most services comes the heightened risk of being a victim of cyber threats such as phishing, online scams, data theft, and mobile malware. Such incidents were especially prominent among users lacking cyber hygiene or those unaware of how to protect their personal information when doing their online transactions. Cybersecurity market insights Despite the increased risks of online threats in the Philippines, the cybersecurity market remains modest compared to other countries. In particular, the Philippines ranked 12th out of 14 among countries in the Asia-Pacific region regarding the size of its cybersecurity market and was forecast to grow to about 344 million U.S. dollars in 2028.

In 2022, the number of phishing sites remained very high, with over **** thousand registered unique incidents in Poland. Among the criminals, the most popular were two types of scams. The most popular type of phishing was using the image of the courier company InPost. The following was Facebook. This method is based on impersonating the Facebook account owner and sending private messages to people who are added to the 'friends' list in the account, asking for a transfer using BLIK mobile payment system. Polish internet users also experienced attacks to obtain banking credentials, payment card details, access to social media accounts, and email inboxes.

Out of the ***** cybercrime offenses reported in Argentina in 2020, *** (or **** percent) were frauds. That year, the number of cases of phishing attacks and extortion amounted to *** (**** percent of the total) and *** (**** percent), respectively.

As of February 2025, the United States ranked first by the average cost of a data breach, ***** million U.S. dollars. The average cost of data breaches in the Middle East was **** million U.S. dollars. Benelux followed in the ranking, with **** million U.S. dollars. In the measured period, the global average data breach cost was **** million U.S. dollars. Phishing scams in the U.S. Breached data often ends up in the hands of threat actors who use it for malicious purposes, including online scams. Phishing continues to be a major threat in North America, particularly on smartphones. In the second quarter of 2023, the region recorded the highest number of phishing and malicious attack attempts globally. The United States was particularly affected, with ** percent of U.S. citizens reporting being targeted by scam texts, e-mails, and calls on a daily basis. Additionally, phishing and spoofing were the most common types of cybercrime, impacting *** thousand individuals in 2023. These attacks led to financial losses, with U.S. victims reporting nearly ** billion U.S. dollars in damages throughout the year. U.S. users and data privacy Despite only ** percent of internet users in the United States being highly knowledgeable about data privacy and cybersecurity, a significant portion of users demonstrated caution and awareness in protecting their information. In fact, over half of surveyed U.S. users reported being somewhat confident in knowing the right steps to take in the event of a cyberattack. Furthermore, ** percent of U.S. users actively decline cookies on websites, reflecting their increasing concern for data protection. Many respondents also take additional steps to safeguard their digital privacy, such as limiting or avoiding clicking on ads as well as not answering phone calls due to cybersecurity risks.

According to a survey conducted among IT security professionals worldwide, ** percent claimed that it was very important when enabling remote work to protect users against various forms of cyber attacks, while ** percent saw this as being of critical importance. This need became even more prevalent following the coronavirus pandemic and ensuing lockdowns in 2020.

In 2023, around 27.32 percent of total phishing attacks worldwide targeted financial institutions, down from 36.3 percent in 2022. Among the organizations attacked by financial phishing, web services were the most targeted, with more than 24 percent of phishing attacks involving them.

According to estimates, e-commerce losses to online payment fraud surpassed **** billion U.S. dollars globally in 2024. The figure was expected to grow further to over *** billion U.S. dollars by 2029. Rise in e-commerce fraud E-commerce fraud presents a complex challenge, with different regions experiencing varying levels of impact. Latin America reported the highest share of loss at *** percent of e-commerce revenue due to payment fraud, while the Asia-Pacific region fared slightly better at *** percent. In 2024, refund and policy abuse emerged as the most prevalent type of fraud, affecting nearly half of online merchants worldwide. This was closely followed by real-time payment fraud and phishing attacks, highlighting the diverse array of threats businesses must contend with. Financial impact on merchants The financial toll of e-commerce fraud on merchants is substantial. The magnitude of these losses is emphasized by a 2024 survey, which found that approximately ** percent of e-merchants reported fraud-related costs of at least ** million U.S. dollars annually. More alarmingly, over ** percent of companies estimated their annual losses at more than ** million U.S. dollars, underscoring the urgent need for robust fraud prevention strategies in the e-commerce sector. Additionally, small and medium-sized businesses reported losing *** percent of their annual e-commerce revenue to payment fraud, illustrating that companies of all sizes are vulnerable to these threats.

This dataset consists of 247950 instances, of which 128541 are from phishing URLs and 119409 are from legitimate URLs. It encompasses 41 features and 1 target variable (0=legitimate,1=phishing), making it suitable for implementing machine learning algorithms to identify phishing attacks.

In 2024, the most common type of cybercrime reported to the United States internet Crime Complaint Center was phishing, with its variation, spoofing, affecting approximately 193,000 individuals. In addition, over 86,000 cases of extortion were reported to the IC3 during that year. Dynamic of phishing attacks Over the past few years, phishing attacks have increased significantly. In 2024, over 193,000 individuals fell victim to such attacks. The highest number of phishing scam victims since 2018 was recorded in 2021, approximately 324 thousand.Phishing attacks can take many shapes. Bulk phishing, smishing, and business e-mail compromise (BEC) are the most common types. With the recent development of generative AI, it has become easier to craft a believable phishing e-mail. This is currently among the top concerns of organizations leaders. Impact of phishing attacks Among the most targeted industries by cybercriminals are healthcare, financial, manufacturing, and education institutions. An observation carried out in the fourth quarter of 2024 found that software-as-a-service (SaaS) and webmail was most likely to encounter phishing attacks. According to the reports, almost a quarter of them stated being targeted by a phishing scam in the measured period.