Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

A phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) platform dubbed ‘Lucid’ is driving a surge in SMS phishing (smishing) attacks, according to researchers at Prodaft. The platform is operated by Chinese cybercriminals who offer access to the service under a subscription model. A Lucid subscription allows crooks to easily craft sophisticated, targeted phishing campaigns.

Internet memes and viral content have become a universal language of online culture. They're easily shareable, often humorous, and can spread rapidly across various platforms. However, this same virality and cultural resonance make memes an attractive vector for cybercriminals and threat actors. Anatomy of a meme Memes are nothing new, and have been around for decades. In fact, a comic published in 1921 followed one of today's most common meme themes: ‘Expectation vs.

Attackers are using new tactics in QR code phishing (quishing) attacks, according to researchers at Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42. Quishing attacks hide phishing URLs within QR codes, allowing them to more easily evade security filters and trick the user into opening the link on their phone.

Phishing attacks are driving a surge in “double brokering” scams in the shipping industry, according to Christian Reilly, Cloudflare’s Field CTO for EMEA. In an article for TechRadar, Reilly explains that these scams have risen by 400% since 2022, and 50% of freight brokers name it as their top concern. “Here’s how they work: Scammers pose as legitimate freight brokers or create fake transportation companies,” Reilly writes.

It seems like only yesterday that we launched the Compliance Plus training library as a result of customers asking us to address their needs beyond security awareness training. The team and I were just looking at our first few months where we had just over 20,000 customer completions in June of 2021. We have since had millions of users complete our content and the library has grown from 115 pieces of content at launch to over 800 pieces of content.

As of January 17, 2025, the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) came into force across all European Union member states, with the crucial aim of strengthening the IT security of financial entities such as banks, insurance companies and investment firms. To do this, the regulation looks to standardize how financial entities report cybersecurity incidents, test their operational resilience, and manage third-party risk.

The Network and Information Systems Directive 2022 (NIS2) was designed to strengthen the cybersecurity resilience of critical infrastructure across the European Union. However, while member states were required to transpose NIS2 into national law by October of 2024, many fell short of this deadline. As a result, on November 28, 2024, the European Commission launched infringement procedures against 23 member states for failing to meet their obligations.

99% of phishing emails that reached inboxes last year did not contain malware, according to a new report from Fortra. Attackers were much more successful using malicious links or purely response-based social engineering. Fortra explains, “Anti-malware scanning, sandboxing, and other pre-delivery security processes are increasingly common and make it more difficult for emails containing malware payloads to reach user inboxes.

A KnowBe4 Threat Lab Publication Authors: By James Dyer, Threat Intelligence Lead at KnowBe4 and Lucy Gee, Cybersecurity Threat Researcher at KnowBe4 On March 3, 2025, the KnowBe4 Threat Labs team observed a massive influx of phishing attacks originating from legitimate Microsoft domains. KnowBe4 Defend detected activity starting on February 24th, with a peak on March 3rd, when 7,000 attacks from microsoft-noreply@microsoft.com were recorded within a 30-minute window.

INKY has published its annual report on email security, finding that phishing accounted for 30% of all reported cybercrimes last year. “Phishing threats grew in both volume and sophistication, introducing new attack vectors like QR codes, cross-site scripting, and weaponized file types (e.g., RTF and DOT),” the report says. “Cybercriminals also increasingly exploited trusted services such as DocuSign and PayPal, underscoring the urgent need for adaptive, robust security solutions.”