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Email-based Phishing Attacks Up 464% in H1 2023

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Acronis Mid-Year Cyberthreats Report

Acronis has published its Mid-Year Cyberthreats Report, revealing concerning trends in the cybersecurity landscape. The report highlights a 464% increase in email-based phishing attacks in the first half of 2023 compared to the previous year.

Cybercriminals are increasingly using generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems like ChatGPT to craft malicious content and conduct cyberattacks. Acronis states that ransomware remains a dominant threat to small and medium-sized businesses. This is mainly due to attackers leveraging AI-created malware to avoid detection by traditional antiviruses.

The cyberattack landscape is evolving

Acronis Mid Year Cyberthreats Report Top 5 Trends

In the report, Acronis also emphasizes the increasing sophistication of cyberattacks. These attacks utilize AI and existing ransomware code to penetrate victims’ systems and extract valuable data, making detection more challenging. Cybercriminals use public AI models to find source code vulnerabilities and develop attacks (including deep fakes).

Additionally, the study shows that phishing is the primary method cybercriminals use to steal login credentials. The use of large language model-based AI platforms has enabled cybercriminals to create, automate, and scale new attacks more efficiently. The report reveals a growing number of data stealers who exploit stolen credentials to gain unauthorized access to sensitive information.

Breaches demonstrate major security concerns

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Acronis points out some major security concerns that contribute to successful breaches, including a lack of strong security solutions to detect zero-day vulnerabilities, delayed updates of vulnerable software, and inadequate protection for Linux servers. Moreover, some organizations fail to follow proper data backup protocols, which can lead to severe consequences during attacks.

Acronis encourages companies to take a proactive stance in cyber protection. A comprehensive cybersecurity posture requires a multi-layered solution that combines various security measures. This includes anti-malware, email security, vulnerability assessments, backup capabilities and more. The report also includes steps that companies can take to increase their cyber protection:

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If you are interested to read the full Acronis Mid-Year Cyberthreats Report 2023, click here.

News

Mozilla Thunderbird Gets A K-9 on Its Mobile Journey

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If you haven’t heard of Thunderbird, we wouldn’t blame you. The once popular open source email client has all but faded to obscurity since its last major update. The desktop version is still stuck in the early 2000s. When it comes to mobile, the email client is non-existent. Since its glory days from 2003 to 2005, the email client hasn’t had much of a visual overhaul nor has it made any strides to have a mobile presence of any kind.

Mozilla Thunderbird

That’s changed with a recent tweet from Ryan Lee Sipes, the product manager for Mozilla Thunderbird. In which he noted that his number 1 priority will be to fix Thunderbird’s UI and UX. The change will be a very very welcomed update – this coming from someone who still uses the email client. However, there isn’t a firm date when the big update will be coming. That said, the desktop app is due for its anniversary update on June 28. Could it be one and the same?

Aside from that, it looks like Mozilla is significant progress towards creating a mobile app for Thunderbird. Mozilla has acquired the trademark rights and source code of K-9 Mail on Android. This includes its GitHub repository. Together with all the code and repositories, Mozilla has also hired Christian Ketterer (cketti), the project’s maintainer. What this essentially means is that Thunderbird’s Android app will be built using the pre-existing code from K-9 Mail. Thankfully, this also means that the development timeframe for a Thunderbird mobile app can be significantly shortened.

It seems like together with the new UX and UI for the desktop application, Thunderbird will also be getting Firefox Sync as feature Mozilla Firefox users will be familiar with. This feature will allow you to sync emails, drafts and more between your different Thunderbird installs on mobile and on desktops. I’m pretty sure that this will be a welcomed development for anybody who finds themselves working on multiple devices.

K-9 Mail is already available on the Google Play Store. So, if you’re interested in contributing to the future of Mozilla Thunderbird, you can install the app as it is updated with features that will be central to the new Thunderbird mobile experience. Of course, if you do use the K-9 Mail app, you will need to potentially brace yourself for multiple UI and UX changes as the Thunderbird team builds on K-9 Mail. Once they’ve achieved their development milestones, the K-9 Mail app will conceivably be changed to Mozilla Thunderbird.