Crédit Agricole has knocked Microsoft out of the top slot for the first time as the brand most exploited by phishing artists. But it is a dubious distinction, according to the Phishers’ Favorites report from Vade.
In Q2, Crédit Agricole phishing URLs rose by 296%. And for another financial institution, La Banque Postale URLs increased 831 percent — jumping 18 spots to become #5 on the list.
Microsoft, after four straight quarters as #1, fell to third on the list for the first half of the year.
But the brand can take little comfort: sophisticated phishing artists utilized logo and background images to automatically display Microsoft corporate branding on fraudulent Microsoft 365 login pages.
Facebook held steady as number two.
Here is the top 25 based on unique phishing URLs:
Roughly 4.2 billion phishing emails were sent in the month of June, a 284% increase over the start of the year. May wasn’t much better — there was a 281% spike.
The top phishing countries were: