General Insurance Article - HMRC suffer 75 percent surge in email attacks

 Anthony Rafferty, Managing Director, Origo, says: “Cybercrime has been rising rapidly up the priority list for financial services firms with more and more companies realising the very real risk that exists to their business. This latest report shows the massive increase in email attacks as criminals take advantage of the disruption caused by the Coronavirus – with every sign it will continue into 2021.

 “Cybercrime is becoming ever more sophisticated and often it is the simplest means and the weakest link which is targeted. Email remains a primary way for criminals to obtain the information they need and to infiltrate companies’ systems.

 “Unsecured email is vulnerable to hacking and is highlighted as a particular target. The Pensions Administration Standards Association (PASA) recently warned against email phishing as “the most successful and dangerous” of cybercrime, citing that research has found 91% of all cyber-attacks start with a phishing email.

 “For companies, protecting their email communications with military-grade encryption which can only be opened by the intended recipient and has a clear audit trail, can no longer be a ‘nice-to-have’ option, it has to be a hygiene factor.”