Researchers at Kaspersky revealed that there is an increase in password-hacking on different websites such as Facebook, Amazon and Google.
Facebook, Amazon and Google’s passwords are most seeked out by hackers because they can help them in data theft, credit card fraud and malware distribution. If hackers hack your Google accounts, they can easily get through the passwords of your other accounts. Gmail is like a key for hackers to hack your other account too. Once they get to Gmail, it is not hard for them to hack your other connected accounts too.
Kaspersky analyzed 25 biggest brands to find out which ones are most accessible to cybercriminals. It was found out that there has been a 40% increase in cyber attacks on these brands in 2024 from 2023. There were 26 million attempts recorded to hack passwords on these brands in the first half of 2024 alone.
There was a 243% increase in phishing attacks seen on just Google accounts alone in the first half of 2024. 4 million attacks had been blocked by Kaspersky Security Solution but most of the passwords couldn’t be protected which gave an easy way to hackers. A security expert at Kaspersky, Olga Svistunova, said that there has been a major increase in attacks on Google this year. Hackers who can access Google accounts can easily hack other accounts too.
According to Kaspersky, Facebook recorded 3.7 million phishing attacks while Amazon had 3 million phishing attacks this year. Other brands which were quite vulnerable to hackers and got frequently hacked too were Netflix, DHL, Apple, PayPal, Mastercard and Instagram. Brands which saw an increase in targeting this year were American Express, AirBnB, HSBC, LinkedIn and eBay. Users should always be alert about these types of attacks and should take measures to safeguard their accounts.
Image: DIW-Aigen
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