Phishing record high in January

Latest stats sees attacks up 21% from December.

January marked a record high for the number of phishing attacks, seeing a 21% increase over the month before, according to the latest figures from security vendor RSA Security. The firm's monthly Online Fraud Report showed that recorded phishing attacks reached an all-time high of 18,820, more than double the figure of a year ago.

There was some slightly encouraging news in that the total number of attacked brands only climbed by 2% compared to December. However, 35 new organizations suffered their first attack in January, more than triple the number reported in December.

RSA Security also reported a growing trend of phishing attacks against colleges and universities, with attacks disguised as the online portals or webmail services of American higher education institutions.

The U.S. remains the top hosting country, climbing 12% to 57% in January. China remained the second top hosting country although the portion of attacks hosted in the country diminished from 17% to just 9% in January. South Korea and Germany were third and fourth on the toplist, with 8% and Germany 6%, respectively.

The US remains the top country in terms of the number of attacks suffered in January, rising 2% from the volume reported in December. The top three targets were: US (48%), UK (34%), Italy (5%).

Source: V3.co.uk.