Fifty per cent of malicious email subjects are Human Resources-related phishing strategies, according to the report released by KnowBe4, a security firm, for the second quarter of 2023 top-clicked phishing report.

The provider of the world’s largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform concluded that phishing emails continue to be one of the most common methods to attack organisations worldwide.

Criminals stay up-to-date in their illegal cyber activities. However, phishing emails remain the most prominent to attack unsuspecting victims by creating realistic and believable subjects.

They create confusions, which enable them to prey on potential victims’ emotion and aim to cause panic and distress or excitement to trick people into clicking on phishing links or malicious attachments.

In recent advancements in phishing, cybercriminals are using email subjects coming from HR-related to dress code changes, training notifications, vacation updates and others to force people to react thinking they are legitimate and could potentially affect an employee’s life.

The result of the study conducted shows that HR business-related messages, which contribute to half of phishing email subjects, attract more attention from employees, thinking the subject can potentially affect them and, in response, promptly clicking on those emails.

“The threat of phishing emails remains as high as ever as cybercriminals continuously tweak their messages to be more sophisticated and seemingly credible,” said Stu Sjouwerman, CEO, KnowBe4.