Since the referendum results, Symantec’s Threat Intelligence researchers have identified and blocked a 392% increase in spam e-mails that use Brexit in the subject line to target people and organisations via social engineering, a tactic that attackers use to get people to divulge sensitive information or install malware onto their computer.
Between the 9th of June and the 23rd of June, the number of e-mails detected and blocked by Symantec amongst our customer base was 81,323. This number increased considerably to 399,892 from the 24th of June to 5th of July.
Peter Coogan of Symantec Security Response said: “Threats such as spam, phishing, and malware that surf on major current events to try to scam people out of money continue to be a lucrative method used by cybercriminals to entice consumers and organisations to share sensitive or financial information. Scammers and spammers are constantly devising new e-mails and weaving current events to play on emotions, and the marked increase in Brexit-related spam does not come as a surprise considering the high international attention it is receiving.
Social Engineering can be an effective tool used by attackers, as it targets the one element that is impossible to patch or install security software on: the human being. The best defence against social engineering is education. If you don’t know the sender, don’t open the e-mail, don’t click on the links within them and don’t open the attachments. It’s a good idea to have robust and multi-layered internet security software installed on all endpoints and organisations should consider personnel training in order to help employees not only help safeguard the company’s data, but their own as well
