Zscaler Research Finds 60% Increase in AI-Driven Phishing Attacks

Annual ThreatLabz Phishing Report Unveils Rapidly Evolving Phishing Landscape, Underlining the Need to Adopt a Zero Trust Architecture

• Vishing (voice phishing) and deepfake phishing attacks are on the rise as attackers leverage generative AI to amplify social engineering tactics.
• The US, UK, India, Canada and Germany were the top five countries targeted by phishing scams.
• The finance and insurance industry faced 27.8% of overall phishing attacks, the highest concentration among industries and a staggering 393% year-over-year increase.
• Microsoft remains the most imitated brand, with 43.1% of phishing attempts targeting it.

SAN JOSE, Calif., April 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zscaler, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZS), the leader in cloud security, today announced the release of the Zscaler ThreatLabz 2024 Phishing Report, which analyzes 2 billion blocked phishing transactions across the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange platform, the world’s largest cloud security platform, between January and December 2023. The data revealed a year-over-year increase of nearly 60% in global phishing attacks, fueled in part by the proliferation of generative AI-driven schemes such as voice phishing (vishing) and deepfake phishing. This year’s report includes actionable insights on phishing activity and tactics, along with offering best practices and strategies to enhance an organization’s security posture to prevent and minimize related threats.

“Phishing remains a persistent and often underestimated threat within the cybersecurity landscape, growing more sophisticated as threat actors harness cutting-edge advancements in generative AI and manipulate trusted platforms to intensify attacks,” said Deepen Desai, CSO and Head of Security Research. “In this context, the latest ThreatLabz insights are more crucial than ever for informing our strategies and strengthening phishing defenses. These findings emphasize the need for organizations to adopt a proactive layered approach that integrates a robust zero trust architecture with advanced AI-powered phishing prevention controls to effectively counteract these evolving threats.”

North America experienced more than half of all phishing attacks, with EMEA and India following

In 2023, the United States (55.9%), United Kingdom (5.6%) and India (3.9%) emerged as the top countries targeted by phishing scams. The high occurrence of phishing in the U.S. is attributable to its advanced digital infrastructure, large population of internet-connected users and extensive use of online financial transactions.