Cyberattackers' growing utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) is driving enhanced phishing scams that mimic legitimate websites with alarming accuracy. Staying informed and building proactive defenses is critical to guard against phishing, which continues to be a key tool used by cybercriminals for fraud schemes and identity theft.
Our Security Operations Center (SOC) team is on the front lines, constantly monitoring and analyzing cutting-edge and traditional cyberattacks to measure our performance and prioritize our focus. In our Fraud Beat Annual Report released earlier this year, we explored the most common types of attacks in 2023 and year-over-year fraud trends. This blog offers an overview and analysis of our SOC’s attack response, proactive measures and incident deactivation times for the first half of 2024.
Fraud attack types in H1 2024
During the first half of 2024, we surpassed 20,000 fraud deactivations, underscoring our commitment to protecting our customers. We achieved this by implementing automated solutions to significantly enhance our operational efficiency. The top fraud attack types were:
- Phishing: 61%
- Unauthorized use of trademarks: 25%
- Redirect to phishing pages: 10%
- Others: 4%
Enhancing proactive phishing detection capabilities
Appgate’s SOC has significantly enhanced its proactive detection capabilities for phishing and fake profiles, achieving an average proactivity rate exceeding 78% in recent years. These improvements have resulted in greater efficiency and accuracy in identifying and mitigating cyberthreats.
Key enhancements include:
- Vendor collaboration: We actively collaborate with multiple vendors to rigorously test and refine our detection capabilities, ensuring we remain at the forefront of phishing prevention.
- Automated phishing analysis: By significantly improving our automated phishing analysis capabilities, we can now enable a faster and more effective response to reactive phishing incidents.
- Optimized monitoring automation: We have optimized our monitoring automation processes, leading to a substantial increase in the accuracy of phishing detection and identification of fake social media profiles.
These ongoing efforts demonstrate our commitment to proactively safeguarding our environment from evolving phishing attacks. Let's examine the growth of our proactive detection capabilities over time:
Rapid phishing neutralization: A testament to proactive cybersecurity
In the first half of 2024, we achieved a remarkable 70% success rate in disabling phishing attempts in zero to five days. This rapid response time significantly mitigates potential damage, safeguarding sensitive data and operational integrity. This advance demonstrates our technical capabilities and is a testament to the dedication of our cybersecurity experts and our collaborative approach to proactively stay ahead of emerging fraud threats.
Our commitment to continuous improvement
The first half of 2024 reaffirmed the importance of maintaining proactive and efficient cyberthreat detection. Through automation enhancements and strong vendor partnerships, we achieved a significant reduction in response times by enabling our SOC team to identify and neutralize attacks with greater accuracy.
As fraud schemes and cyberthreats advance, we remain committed to strong defenses and focusing on the most vulnerable regions and new attack techniques. We will continue to refine our strategies to exceed customer expectations, ensuring their data is protected by our industry-leading cyber risk management capabilities.
The dynamic nature of fraud demands a proactive and strategic approach. By identifying vulnerabilities, embracing cutting-edge technologies and adapting to threat shifts, organizations can stay ahead of malicious threat actors. Appgate remains steadast in its commitment to innovation and security and we encourage organizations to join us in the fight against fraud to ensure a secure future for all. Learn more about our fraud protection solutions here.
Additional fraud protection resources
Analyst report: ISMG 2023 Faces of Fraud
Case study: Banbif Commercial Bank Prevents Fraud
Blog: Analyzing Fraud Trends and Emerging Threats