Various analyses indicate there has been a significant increase in phishing attacks in 2024, with one study revealing that 94% of organizations experienced at least one phishing attack in 2024, two percentage points higher than the previous year. The majority of those organizations suffered bad consequences as a result of those attacks.
Phishing attacks are not only increasing in volume, they are also increasing in sophistication and AI tools are making phishing attempts much harder to identify. AI tools are being used to slash the amount of time taken to conduct research for spear phishing attacks, including using these tools to create lures that the targeted individuals are likely to respond to. AI tools are being used to create grammatically perfect emails, even matching the writing style of the impersonated company or individual. There has also been an increase in multi-channel attacks, where phishers combine email, text messages, and the telephone in their scams.
In the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center publishes annual reports about complaints about cybercrime, with this year’s report showing almost 300,000 reports of phishing-related cybercrime, not including cyberattacks such as ransomware attacks that started with phishing emails. Across the Atlantic, in the UK it was a similar story, with the Information Commissioner’s Office also reporting and increase in complaints related to phishing.
With the increase in attacks, use of AI tools, and rising data breach costs, it is no surprise that phishing is one of the biggest causes of stress for cybersecurity professionals. With the New Year rapidly approaching, now is the perfect time to ease the stress by enhancing your defenses and strengthening your email security posture, and one of the best ways to do that is with an improved email security solution capable of identifying and blocking even sophisticated threats.
At TitanHQ, we are continuously making improvements to the engine at the heart of our antispam software (SpamTitan) and anti-phishing solution (PhishTitan) to improve detection and usability. The latest release is the most powerful yet with AI and machine learning capabilities and email sandboxing for exceptional malware detection. The engine has been shown to be highly effective in independent tests by the highly respected independent computer security company VirusBulletin.
VirusBulletin put the engine that powers the SpamTitan and PhishTitan solutions to the test along with 10 leading email security solutions and awarded it joint first place for overall score in the Q3, 2024 tests, and first place in the Q4,2024 tests. For the third consecutive quarter, TitanHQ achieved a 100% malware catch rate, and the phishing catch rate increased from 99.99% in Q2 to 100% in Q4, with a Q4 spam catch rate of 99.99% and a 0.00% false positive rate. The strong performance has earned TitanHQ its third consecutive VBSpam+ award. SpamTitan and PhishTitan are very competitively priced and it is easy to switch from alternative email security solutions. Given the amazing catch rates, ease of use, and competitive pricing, it should come as no surprise that record numbers of companies are making the switch to TitanHQ to improve their phishing defenses.
Technical defenses are important for blocking threats, but it is also important that your workforce is trained to recognize phishing and other security threats. The workforce needs to be provided with regular training sessions to reinforce security best practices and make them aware of the threats they are likely to encounter. Through regular training, you can develop a security culture and ensure that employees will be able to detect, avoid, and report any threats landing in their inboxes.
The easiest way to improve security awareness is with a comprehensive training platform such as SafeTitan. SafeTitan is an easy-to-use training platform with hundreds of training modules covering all aspects of security that is used by businesses to teach security best practices and raise awareness of common and not-so-common threats. Training courses can easily be created for different users, job roles, and threat levels, and the training can be automated to provide hands-off training continuously throughout the year. The platform can be configured to automate the delivery of relevant training in response to security errors, and the phishing simulator can be used to conduct internal campaigns to reinforce training and identify areas where training needs to be improved.
Why not get 2025 off to the perfect start by improving your phishing defenses with TitanHQ? Give the team a call today to discuss these solutions in more detail and take advantage of a free trial of these solutions to see for yourself the difference they make to your phishing defenses.