A new threat alert from ConsumerAffairs and TrendMicro proves more than just shoppers will take advantage of Amazon’s upcoming Prime Day. As Prime Day approaches on July 11-12, ConsumerAffairs reports on a variety of scams bad actors are expected to use to take advantage of online shoppers looking for a good deal: Trend Micro's research team identified.

Email-based social engineering attacks have risen by 464% this year compared to the first half of 2022, according to a report by Acronis. Business email compromise (BEC) attacks have also increased significantly. “One out of 76, or 1.3%, of the received emails were malicious,” the researchers write. “Phishing remains the number one threat, with these attacks making up 73% of the total.

Attackers are increasingly using images in phishing to evade text-based security filters, according to researchers at INKY.

We are thrilled to announce that KnowBe4 has been named a leader in the latest G2 Grid Report that compares Security Awareness Training (SAT) vendors based on user reviews, customer satisfaction, popularity and market presence. The latest G2 Grid Report compares Security Awareness Training (SAT) vendors based on user reviews, customer satisfaction, popularity and market presence.

The largest port in Japan, Nagoya, is now the most recent victim of a ransomware attack. The attack impacts the operation of container terminals, as the port handles over two million containers each year. This port is also used by the Toyota Motor Corporation, one of the world’s largest automakers, to export most of its cars.

We are excited to announce that KnowBe4 has been named a leader in the Summer 2023 G2 Grid Report for Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) for the PhishER platform for the ninth consecutive quarter! The latest G2 Grid Report compares Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response (SOAR) Software vendors based on user reviews, customer satisfaction, popularity and market presence. Based on 202 G2 customer reviews, KnowBe4’s PhishER platform is the top ranked SOAR software.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) has warned of a scam in which attackers pose as process servers in order to steal information and commit identity theft. “You receive a call from an unknown or blocked number from a person claiming to be a process server,” the Bureau says. “They might say there is a lien on your home or someone is taking you to court over unpaid medical bills.

When KnowBe4 went public in April 2021, I got to know a select group of analysts that served as co-managers on our IPO. These professionals all know our industry very well and we spoke with them quarterly during our earnings conference call where we discussed the past 3 months and expectations for the future. One of these firms was Baird Equity Research and I am still on their mailing list, even though we went private this year as a Vista Equity Partners portfolio company.

The Iranian threat actor Charming Kitten is launching sophisticated spear phishing attacks to distribute a new version of its POWERSTAR malware, according to researchers at Volexity. “In the last few years, Volexity has observed threat actors dramatically increase the level of effort they put into compromising credentials or systems of individual targets,” Volexity says.

As executables and scripts are unable to bypass security solutions as attachments, cybercriminals turn to HTML as a means of obfuscation and malicious execution. According to analysis from security vendor Avanan, executables and Office documents as malicious attachments are almost non-existent – thanks to the solid efforts on the part of security companies and Microsoft.