Malice in the message: Phishing in messenger apps

Anonymised information, voluntarily offered by Kaspersky Internet Security for Android customers, has shown which messenger apps are the most well-liked amongst phishing scammers. The most significant share of detected malicious hyperlinks in between December 2020 and May 2021 was sent by means of WhatsApp (89.6%), followed by Telegram (5.6%). Viber is in third location with a share of 4.7% and Hangouts has much less than 1%. Countries experiencing the highest quantity of phishing attacks had been Russia (46%), Brazil (15%) and India (7%). Globally, 480 detections had been recorded per day.

According to the analysis, messenger apps outstripped social networks by 20% in 2020, in terms of recognition amongst customers, and became the most well-liked tool for communication. Survey final results also show that in 2020, the international audience for messengers amounted to 2.7 billion people today, and by 2023 it is anticipated to develop to 3.1 billion. That is just about 40% of the world’s population.

Kaspersky Internet Security for Android has added a new feature, Safe Messaging, which prevents customers from opening malicious hyperlinks that they get in messenger apps (WhatsApp, Viber, Telegram, Hangouts) and via SMS. As a outcome, Kaspersky analysed anonymised clicks on phishing hyperlinks across messenger apps and identified that in between December 2020 and May 2021, 91,242 detections had been recorded globally. According to the statistics, Kaspersky Internet Security for Android detected the most significant quantity of malicious hyperlinks in WhatsApp, partly due to the truth that it is the most well-liked messenger globally. The most significant share of such messages was detected in Russia (42%), Brazil (17%) and India (7%).

“Statistics show that phishing in instant messenger apps is still one of the most popular tools among scammers. This is partly due to the wide popularity of these apps among the audience, as well as the ability to use the built-in functionality of applications to carry out attacks. Sometimes it can be difficult to determine whether an attack is phishing, as the difference can be just one character or a minor mistake. Vigilance combined with anti-phishing technologies form a reliable tool in the fight against phishing in messenger apps,” says Tatyana Shcherbakova, senior internet content analyst at Kaspersky.

Originally appeared on: TheSpuzz