Security News > 2021 > November > Gmail accounts are used in 91% of all baiting email attacks
Bait attacks are on the rise, and it appears that actors who distribute this special kind of phishing emails prefer to use Gmail accounts to conduct their attacks.
According to a report by Barracuda, who surveyed 10,500 organizations, 35% of them received at least one bait attack email in September 2021 alone.
It is a preparatory reconnaissance step that seldom comes with payloads or embedded links on the email body.
Barracuda's stats show that 91% of all these bait emails are sent from newly-created Gmail accounts, while all other email platforms account for just 9%. This preference is because Gmail is a very popular service that people associate with legitimacy and trustworthiness.
The same applies to email security solutions that treat Google's email service as a highly reputable one.
Barracuda decided to experiment by replying to these baiting emails, which aren't supposed to initiate the phishing process.