BBC Weathers Over a Quarter Million Phishing Attacks Daily

The BBC deals with more than a quarter of a million phishing attacks every day, data from the U.K.-based think Parliament Street reveals. Over the past eight months, between January-August, the BBC thwarted around 51,898,393 infected emails.

The world’s leading public service broadcaster British Broadcasting Company (BBC), has been facing relentless cyberattacks since the start of 2020. The BBC receives more than a quarter of a million email-based cyber threats each day, per data that came to light through a request made under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.

The data, obtained by Parliament Street, a U.K.-based think tank, shows that the BBC has been blocking 283,597 email attacks daily between January and August 2020. On average, email-perpetrated hostilities against the BBC stand at 6,704,188 per month, taking the total number of blocked email attacks in the first eight months to 51,898,393 (51.89 million). 

The email-driven siege on BBC also consisted of 18,662 malware attacks on average per month. Analysts believe these attacks are a part of a larger but unofficial and uncoordinated campaign, preying on the fear generated by the pandemic and exploiting vulnerabilities to steal end-users ‘ information. Tim SadlerOpens a new window , CEO at Tessian, told Infosecurity MagazineOpens a new window , “The global pandemic has become a ripe opportunity for phishing scams, and we can clearly in reflected in the spike of malicious attacks on the BBC. In the wake of the outbreak, journalists and employees would have been busier and more distracted than usual.”

See Also: Email Is the #1 Attack Vector: Is Your Solution Good Enough?

“Using clever social engineering techniques, cyber-criminals prey on people’s desire for information during uncertain times, and bank on the fact that busy, distracted and stressed employees may miss the signs of a phishing email and fall for their scams,” adds Sadler.

Email emerged as one of the easiest and therefore most preferred attack vectors in the wake of the pandemic. Nearly 90% of cyberattacks are carried out via email. Lack of awareness, proper training and appropriate security tools are the reasons why three out of 10 workers worldwide have clicked a phishing link delivered over email in the past one year. The FBI said businesses suffered losses of over $3.5 billion in 2019Opens a new window due to cybercrime. 

Almost all of the malspam was based on COVID-19 and related treatments. Claire UmedaOpens a new window , previous Vice President of Marketing at 4iQ and the current VP of Marketing at Okera writes, “Examples of misinformation include the promotion of fraudulent products that claim to ‘cure, treat, or prevent COVID-19,’ which haven’t been evaluated by regulators for safety and effectiveness; ongoing social media campaigns that sow seeds of doubt regarding the severity of this novel virus and in some cases deny the very existence of the pandemic; and conspiracy theories surrounding the origin of the pandemic.”

See Also: Best Practices to Fight Phishing & Strengthen Cybersecurity in COVID-19 Era

These attempts to cripple BBC’s security infrastructure may open the floodgates for data theft, operational disruption, and other malicious activities. 

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