According to a study from Google and the University of California- San Diego, phishing continues to catch more people than expected. The recently published study found that phishing emails successfully lure up to 45 percent of people into visiting their websites. Furthermore, 14 percent of people were tricked into giving away their person information to the hackers.
To conduct this study, Google and UCSD viewed 100 phishing emails reported by Gmail users and reviewed 100 phishing websites as caught from Google’s Safe Browsing system. The researchers looked at the emails and websites and observed how people were interacting to further understand how the scams were working. On the most effective sites, 45 percent of users submitted data, while the least effective was still able to trick 3 percent.
After gaining entry to a victim’s account, the hacker spends a few minutes deciding how much the account could be worth. If it seems worth their time, the hacker then typically sends emails to their contact lists in hopes of getting them to send money. Google noted that one attacker can be responsible for millions of phishing emails.
To avoid being part of the 45 percent, there are a few things you can do. First is to enable two-step verification on your email account. It's important to remember to never click on any suspicious looking links or download any attachments. And when you suspect phishing, make sure to report it.
