RSA questions whether cybersecurity awareness month is working

October is designated as cybersecurity awareness month but, according to this month's fraud report from RSA, you'd be hard pressed to say that the message on IT security is getting across, as the firm has just thwarted its 500,000th phishing attack against one of its client's systems.

According to the report, during the month, phishing attacks rose by 45%, hitting an all-time high of 38,970 in September. The increase, says the security firm, is largely attributed to repeated attacks on a handful of large financial institutions.

Delving into the research reveals that the US hosted two out of every three attacks in September, its share rising by 3% from August. Germany and the UK each hosted 5%, increasing by 1% from August. The UK, meanwhile, was by far the most targeted country by volume, hosting 59% of all phishing attacks. Against this backdrop, RSA said that cybersecurity awareness month – a public relations effort made by several US-based government bodies to increase security-literacy – may not be getting the message through to end users.