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According to data analyzed by the Atlas VPN research team, Google registered 2.02 million phishing websites in 2020 Year-to-Date (YTD).
Most of the stuff you find on the web is good and can be useful, but just like in the real world, there are ill-meaning people who want to profit from unsuspecting individuals.
The report shows that:
- Google caught 2.02 million phishing websites in 2020 YTD.
- On average, 46 thousand new phishing websites are created every week.
- Google’s data reveals that 2020 is a record year for phishing sites.
- The second quarter of 2020 has the highest number of phishing sites ever detected, at over 635 thousand.
- The average year-by-year change in phishing websites reveals a 12.89% growth since 2015.
- COVID-19 pandemic is likely the main factor for the increase in cybercrime, as internet usage increased drastically.
To see the full report, please click here.
One of the most prevalent means of cybercrime is phishing sites. Here, criminals create a seemingly authentic copy of a popular website to lure people into entering their sensitive data, be it login credentials to their account or credit card information.
In 2020, an average of 46 thousand phishing sites are detected every week, according to Google’s Transparency Report. The total phishing websites caught amount to a staggering 2.02 million since the start of the year.
Rachel Welch, COO of Atlas VPN, explains why phishing scams are so prevalent in 2020:
“It is quite easy to correlate the pandemic with the increase in phishing attacks, not only because of the increased internet usage but also due to the panic. Panic leads to irrational thinking, and people forget basic security steps online. Users then download malicious files or try to purchase in-demand items from unsafe websites, in result becoming victims of a scam.”
Data also reveals that in the first half of 2020, there were two huge spikes in malicious websites, reaching over 58 thousand detections per week at the peaks.
2020 — a record year for phishing sites
To take a look at the wider perspective, Atlas VPN analyzed phishing site data since the first quarter of 2015. Our findings revealed that the year 2020 is, in fact, the year with the most new phishing sites to date.
To read the full article, head over to: https://atlasvpn.com/blog/google-reports-over-2-million-phishing-sites-in-2020-ytd
