Millions of email attacks being missed by cyber security

12th February 2021

Alex Lynn

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In 2020, 4,550 organisations used barracuda email threat scanner to scan 2,600,531 unique mailboxes and found 2,029,413 unique email attacks. On average, 512 attacks were found per organisation, and one out of seven mailboxes (14%) had at least one attack currently sitting inside, even if messages were scanned by an email gateway solution.

The attacks detected fall into four email threat types: phishing, scamming, extortion, and business email compromise (BEC). Of the 2,029,413 unique attacks detected, phishing was the number one threat missed by the organisations’ email security solutions (59%). Scamming was the second most common (39%).

Extortion (nine percent) and BEC (eight percent) were less prevalent, but cybercriminals tend to send these types of attacks in smaller volumes because they are highly personalised.

Today, barracuda also announced a redesigned version of the barracuda email threat scanner, the free tool which was used to obtain the above data, and can help any company detect email threats that get past their email gateway.

The refreshed barracuda email threat scanner brings a complete user interface update to the scanner’s dashboard. This includes a scan preview page, which allows users to monitor their scan’s progress while the scan is running. It also includes access to early results as email threat scanner scans mailboxes and finds attacks, and, improved dashboard reporting of detected threats, making it easier to hone in on specific insights and interpret the findings.

Sspear phishing threats are more dangerous than ever due to the sophistication of attackers, and while organisations have invested in protection against email threats, many of these attacks slip through gateways, landing in users’ inboxes,” explained Don Maclennan, SVP, Engineering & Product Management, Email Protection, Barracuda. “As these numbers show, traditional email gateways are not enough. Customers should also use API-based inbox defenses to maximise their protection.”

Barracuda sentinel integrates directly into office 365 to find threats inside your mail system that security gateways can’t see.

“Many email threats slip past the email gateway. Threats like spear phishing and business email compromise put companies at significant risk. Barracuda email threat scanner detects these threats and helps us uncover additional ways we can help customers protect their people and data,” said Kristian Connor, Director, Xitenys.