Identity deception attacks continue to grow, but the type of attack seems to be changing. During Q3, 2019, phishing campaigns impersonating brands dropped by 6% over the previous quarter. Attacks impersonating individuals, however, increased by 10%. The drop in brand impersonation may be partly related to increased industry adoption of DMARC, which is up 49% over the last year.
However, although DMARC is increasingly being implemented, it is not yet being effectively used. Only the “p=reject” enforcement option will protect against email-based brand impersonation scams. Germany and the U.S. are the two countries with the highest use of DMARC. Germany has a higher number of implementations than the U.S., but a lower percentage of DMARC records set to the p=reject enforcement level.
