Published: February 28, 2022 on our newsletter Security Fraud News & Alerts Newsletter.
We all have our favorite brands, but we also are quite aware of the brands that do the most or best marketing. Companies like Microsoft, Facebook, and Google have long been household names and because of this, the less-than-savory crowd knows the best names to imitate when they want to get the biggest bang for their buck. In the past, the typical names have stayed on the list, only shifting around a bit among the top few. However, Check Point researchers found there’s a new brand leader among the ranks in Q4 of 2021; and it might surprise you.
Check Point’s Q4 Brand Phishing Report ranks the top 10 most imitated brands and for the last three months of last year, Microsoft and Google were still on the list. What was surprising was the company that toppled them for the top most imitated brand—the global logistics company, DHL. According to the report, it’s the first time such a company has topped the rankings.
Its brand was used in 23% of all the phishing attacks they saw. Coming in second was Microsoft at 20%, and lagging far behind in third was WhatsApp (a Facebook company) with 11%. Not to be left out, Google was right behind at 10%.
With the increase in online shopping and even remote working, it’s sometimes easy to overlook potentially harmful websites. But, keep those cyber-savvy goggles on and be sure to check those URLs, once, twice, and even three times before clicking that enter key. In addition, always keep the peepers peeled for phishing lures that might appear in your email or even on websites you visit. Just because it’s a legitimate website you’re viewing, it doesn’t mean the advertisements that appear are not harmful. Those social networking sites in particular, know what you’re browsing for and they’ll pop up ads that might appeal to you. Make sure they are trusted before you click them.
Others that made this top 10 list include, LinkedIn, Amazon, FedEx, Roblox, PayPal, and Apple.
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