US banks biggest target for phishing scams, reveals RSA

Report also suggests US-based servers are perpetrating a significant percentage of attacks

Banks in the US are the biggest targets of phishing attempts by cyber scammers, while the US is also the number one source of these targeted attacks, a report by RSA, the security division of storage firm EMC, has revealed.

The RSA Monthly Fraud Report September 2014 also suggests that August saw a significant decline in phishing attempts. A total of 33,145 phishing attacks were identified by RSA during August – a 22 per cent decrease on the figure for July.

Despite the drop, phishing attacks in August still took a significant financial toll on victims, amounting to $282m in losses.

Banks continue to be the biggest victims of phishing, with the percentage of attacks directed at national banks in the US rising from 59 per cent in July to 72 per cent in August. Regional banks and credit unions also remain targets, with phishing attempts against the latter up from five per cent to 12 per cent of attacks during August.

In terms of countries targeted, the US was way out in front in August, accounting for 61 per cent of phishing attempts, with Canada, the UK, The Netherlands and China collectively receiving 20 per cent of attacks.

But while many in the US see China as the main threat to Uncle Sam's cyber security, the report suggests that phishing largely originates at home, with 35 per cent of attacks coming from servers hosted within the US.

Hong Kong remained the second top hosting country for phishing in August, with 13 per cent of total attacks.

Earlier this month, a report by McAfee warned that the majority of email users can't detect phishing scams.