Cybercriminals Switch to Impersonation Attacks.

• Position: EMAIL SECURITY SYSTEMS

Most organizations are concerned about malware being the main risk to their email related security posture, but a study by data security company Mimecast Limited, London, England, reveals an increased risk of impersonation attacks as compared to attacks leveraging malware.

Impersonation attacks, which rely on duping recipients into wiring the attacker money or highly monetizable data, rose almost 50% quarter over quarter. Emails with malware attachments or dangerous file types, combined, increased about 15%. Missed impersonation attacks were seen to occur more than seven times as often as missed email-borne malware.

These findings follow a recent PhishMe study that found approximately two-thirds of IT executives surveyed had dealt with a security incident originating from a deceptive email.

"Impersonation attacks are an easy and effective way to dupe unsuspecting victims by gaining their trust through a combination of social engineering and technical means," says Ed Jennings, chief operating officer at Mimecast. "This latest report reveals that many email security providers are leaving organizations very vulnerable to these often...