Phishing attacks surge with 87 percent growth over last year, warns Kaspersky

Researchers at Kaspersky Lab have reported significant growth in phishing attacks over the last year.

In a study entitled "The Evolution of Phishing Attacks", Kaspersky said it found 37.3 million out of its 50 million customers running its security products that were at risk of being phished from 2012 to the present, an 87 percent increase over the same period between 2011 and 2012.

"The nature of phishing attacks is such that the simplest types can be launched without any major infrastructure investments or in-depth technological research," Kaspersky said in the report. "This situation has led to its own form of 'commercialisation' of these types of attacks, and phishing is now being almost industrialised, both by cybercriminals with professional technological skills and IT dilettantes."