Security News > 2021 > April > How financial cybercrime targets shifted in 2020
Alongside shifts in what types of financial institutions were being targeted, Kaspersky also noticed regional malware actors going global and advanced persistent threats that aren't normally involved in financial crimes broadening their horizons to include such acts in 2020.
In terms of specific numbers, Kaspersky noticed a slight decline in the number of users hit by phishing attacks in 2020, with only 13.21% being targeted, compared to 15.7% in 2019.
The types of phishing attacks that Kaspersky detected underwent a major shift in 2020, with non-financial attacks jumping from 48.6% of phishing to 62.75%. Financial phishing attacks, which Kaspersky divides into bank, payment system and e-shop categories, experienced a major shift as well: Banks dropped from 27% of phishing attacks to 10.72%, payment systems decreased from 16.67% to 8.41%, and online shops rose from 7.57% of phishing in 2019 to 18.12% in 2020.
Along with the leap in numbers of phishing attacks targeting online shops, the most targeted brands shifted too, with Amazon outpacing 2019 leader Apple, gaming platform Steam facing twice as many phishing attempts, and "Other" shops being targeted more frequently as well.
Payment systems, such as credit cards and online payment platforms, experienced a large shift as well: In 2019, Visa was the target of 37.6% of payment platform phishing attacks, but in 2020 it fell to fourth place, ceding the lead to PayPal, which faced 38.7% of attacks.
"Regional scam factories targeting financial organizations are increasingly reaching the global level, potentially resulting in more growth in 2021. Thus, even though the general statistics look positive, we have to consider the massive threat landscape still faced by financial organizations," it said.