The cybercriminal then used the information to further the legitimacy of their phishing campaigns, or worse. Once a user clicked to join the meeting, the fraudulent website recorded the user’s actual credentials to the services. In one of the more nefarious versions of this phishing attack, cybercriminals send out meeting invitations using words like “termination” and “crucial HR meeting” to enhance the emotional reaction of victims to click past suspicious content, drawing on the large layoffs occurring early in the year. In April 2020, the FBI sent out an alert warning that cybercriminals were targeting businesses and healthcare workers using fake Zoom and Skype meetings, sending them emails that looked very familiar to legitimate invitations. Here is a roundup of six of the most sophisticated and unique phishing attacks of 2020.Īs remote work took off in early 2020, hackers seized on the opportunity to create phishing campaigns targeting users leveraging popular virtual meeting technology. At the same time, 2020 also saw an evolution in the sophistication of the usually juvenile form of cybercrime, demonstrating the planning, skill and persistence of some groups to create elaborate phishing schemes. Some studies noted a 220% increase in phishing incidents compared to 2019, fueled by so much of the population moving to a work from home or distance learning model. Sadly, in the face of the economic, social and public health tragedy tied to the COVID-19 global pandemic, 2020 saw no respite for victims already struggling with a lot on their plates. Whether posing as a legitimate business, an official government agency or even a colleague or non-profit, these attacks use a wide range of sophistication, skill and tenacity to trick their victims.

One of the most common is phishing, a nefarious play on the word “fishing,” where attackers work to trick a victim into giving up personal information, financial details or even credentials and passwords to use in larger cyberattacks, to harvest for the dark web or to commit a form of fraud. Any time there is a large disruption in our daily life, cybercriminals jump to the chance to engage in new forms of social engineering attacks.

Current phishing scams 2019