A quarter over quarter upward trend in mobile phishing over the last 15 months has been identified by security specialist Lookout in its latest research.
Most notably, there’s almost a 6% jump from 4Q 2019 to 1Q 2020 largely attributed to phishing campaigns centred around Covid-19.
Looking at the numbers, which are based on real-world encounter rates with mobile phishing attacks, there is a likelihood of significant financial damage to a company at the hands of just one employee mistakenly giving an attacker access to the enterprise.
A successful mobile phishing attack can have a multitude of negative effects on a company beyond just financial loss. The hit to brand reputation can be highly disruptive, especially in a highly regulated industry like financial services, legal, or healthcare that loses highly sensitive customer information, says Lookout.
This is a problem set to get worse. Gartner predicts that by 2022, 75% of smartphones used in the enterprise will be bring-your-own-device (BYOD), up from 35% in 2018.
This shift means more people will use a personal device to access corporate data, which could lead to more careless data handling, app permissions being granted accidentally, and greater risk to the organisation if the right security measures are not in place.