MailGuard Partners Blog

As we pulled the curtain on 2020, counting our losses from events that none had foreseen, with global geopolitical tensions rising, and in the wake of a global health emergency the likes of which we had never experienced, in COVID-19. It forced workforces across the globe to shift to hybrid or remote working and reflected in the IC3 2020 report summarizing the impact on U.S. citizens from cybercrime, citing “a record number of complaints from the American public in 2020: 791,790, with reported losses exceeding $4.1 billion.” Saying “This represents a 69% increase in total complaints from 2019. Business E-mail Compromise (BEC) schemes continued to be the costliest: 19,369 complaints with an adjusted loss of approximately $1.8 billion. Phishing scams were also prominent: 241,342 complaints, with adjusted losses of over $54 million. The number of ransomware incidents also continues to rise, with 2,474 incidents reported in 2020.”

In line with its’ commitment to continually improve and enhance the functionality and user-experience of its products and services, MailGuard has now enabled End-User Quarantine Access in its Management Console.

In 2020, Australians lost over $850 million to scams. A new report by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission found phishing was the most reported type of scam across the country, rising to “unprecedented levels” in comparison to 2019. “Phishing activity thrived during the pandemic. Over 44,000 reports were received, representing a 75% increase,” the report stated.  

Since the early days of the internet, when Nigerian Prince scams started appearing, email has been exploited by hackers and criminals.

Data from FBI reports shows that email-based attacks like CEO fraud and phishing are now the most costly cybercrime categories.

“I have antivirus software installed but I’m still getting scam emails!”

Does that sound familiar?

Spam, phishing, criminal intent emails... inboxes are still the most useful tool for cybercriminals to steal sensitive data and access computer networks. Most companies use antivirus software of some sort but antivirus doesn’t stop new threats or advanced malicious-email attacks.