Over 30 percent of mobile users encounter phishing attacks

According to data from Lookout, 2022 has seen the highest percentage of mobile phishing encounter rates ever, with an average of more than 30 percent of personal and enterprise users exposed to these attacks every quarter.

Since 2021, mobile phishing encounter rates have increased by around 10 percent for enterprise devices and more than 20 percent for personal devices.

More worrying is that the percentage of users falling for multiple mobile phishing links is increasing rapidly year-on-year. The share of mobile users in enterprise environments clicking on more than six malicious links annually has jumped from 1.6 percent in 2020 to 11.8 percent in 2022.

Organizations operating in highly regulated industries -- including insurance, banking, legal, healthcare and financial services -- were the most heavily targeted enterprises. The report puts the potential annual financial impact of mobile phishing to an organization of 5,000 employees at nearly $4 million.

Non-email based phishing attacks are growing rapidly too, with vishing (voice phishing), smishing (SMS phishing) and quishing (QR code phishing) increasing seven-fold in the second quarter of 2022.

"Mobile as a threat surface will continue to grow, and hybrid work continues to grow in tandem, introducing huge numbers of unmanaged devices into the enterprise environment," says Aaron Cockerill, chief strategy officer at Lookout. "It is more important now than ever for organizations to evolve their cybersecurity strategy to proactively combat mobile phishing. As one of the most effective attack vectors for threat actors, often serving as a starting-point for more advanced attacks, mobile phishing protection should be a top priority for organizations of any size."

You can get the full Global State of Mobile Phishing Report from the Lookout site.

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