New Potential Phishing Domains Targeting Top 50 Banks Rise 14% in First Half of 2019, New NormShield Research Finds

VIENNA, Va., Aug. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Cyber criminals continue to use phishing to lure bank customers and steal personal and financial information, according to new research from NormShield, the only provider of standards-based external cyber risk assessment and mitigation recommendations.

An investigation of the 50 largest global banks found that more than 1900 potential phishing domains were registered in the first half of 2019. Designed to trick consumers into thinking they are doing business with a bank they already trust, hackers create websites that impersonate financial institutions and then steal sensitive information. Nearly one-third of all data breaches involve phishing, according to the 2019 Verizon DBIR Report.

NormShield found that potential phishing domains increased by 14% in the first half of 2019 vs. the same time period in 2018.

Phishing remains one of the hardest cyber attacks to prevent. The padlock icon on a browser address bar and the use of "https" in a domain URL address indicates that a website domain has a valid SSL or TLS certificate and a certain level of security. However, 15% of potential phishing domains registered in the first half of 2019 had valid certificates, making it extremely difficult for consumers to determine a fake.

"Phishing continues to pose significant challenges to both banks and consumers," said Mohamoud Jibrell, CEO of NormShield. "Banks need to continually monitor domain registrations and focus on the most likely domains that may be used to trick customers."

NormShield offers a free "Potential Phishing Domain Search" that banks and consumers can use to investigate potential phishing domains. Users can simply enter a domain name and receive a score to evaluate the likelihood that a website may be used for phishing.

NormShield warns that more than 3,500 new phishing domains will be active by year's end.

The full report can be found at: https://www.normshield.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Banking-Phishing-Report-FINAL.pdf

About NormShield

NormShield enables enterprises to assess, prioritize and address the third-party cyber risk of any company, anywhere within 60 seconds. Using easy-to-understand scorecards, we provide standards-based letter grades on various risk categories, along with data on how to mitigate each risk in priority order. NormShield provides the speed, standards, and substance needed to combat the newest risks and threats facing organizations today.

Learn more at www.normshield.com.

Contact:
Josh Zecher
joshzecher@vrge.us

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-potential-phishing-domains-targeting-top-50-banks-rise-14-in-first-half-of-2019-new-normshield-research-finds-300901275.html

SOURCE NormShield