Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Akamai Threat Research: Phishing and Credential Stuffing Attacks Remain Top Threat to Financial Services Organizations and Customers

01/08/2019

Akamai Threat Research: Phishing and Credential Stuffing Attacks Remain Top Threat to Financial Services Organizations and Customers Latest State of The Internet / Security Report Observes 3.5 Billion Malicious Login Attempts Targeting the Financial Services Sector; Illustrates Akamai's Unique Threat Visibility

Cambridge, MA | July 31, 2019

Newly released data from Akamai's 2019 State of the Internet / Security Financial Services Attack Economy Report has found that 50% of all unique organizations impacted by observed phishing domains were from the financial services sector. The data shows that, in addition to unique phishing attempts, adversaries also leveraged credential stuffing attacks to the tune of 3.5 billion attempts during an 18-month period, putting the personal data and banking information of financial services customers at risk.

The report indicates that between December 2, 2018 and May 4, 2019, nearly 200,000 (197,524 to be exact) phishing domains were discovered, and of those domains, 66% targeted consumers directly. When taking the phishing domains targeting consumers only into consideration, 50% of those targeted companies in the financial services industry.

We've seen a steady rise in credential stuffing attacks over the past year, fed in part by a growth in phishing attacks against consumers, said Martin McKeay, Security Researcher at Akamai and Editorial Director of the State of the Internet / Security Report. Criminals supplement existing stolen credential data through phishing, and then one way they make money is by hijacking accounts or reselling the lists they create. We're seeing a whole economy developing to target financial services organizations and their consumers.

Once criminals have succeeded in their schemes, they need to process their ill-gotten data and funds. As Akamais report highlights, one method of dealing with this situation centers on bank drops' - packages of data that can be used to fraudulently open accounts at a given financial institution. Bank drops will typically include a persons stolen identity - often called fullz by criminals online, including name, address, date of birth, Social Security details, drivers license information, and credit score. Secure access to the fraudulent accounts comes via remote desktop servers, which are matched to the geographic location of the bank and the fullz.

Financial institutions continue to investigate the ways in which criminals are opening these drop accounts, and are working diligently to stay ahead of the curve. What most businesses don't realize, however, is that criminals are recycling old attack methods.

Akamai's findings revealed that 94% of observed attacks against the financial services sector came from one of four methods: SQL Injection (SQLi), Local File Inclusion (LFI), Cross-Site Scripting (XSS), and OGNL Java Injection (which accounted for more than 8 million attempts during this reporting period). OGNL Java Injection, made famous due to the Apache Struts vulnerability, continues to be used by attackers years after patches have been issued.

In the financial services industry, criminals have also started launching DDoS attacks as a distraction to conduct credential stuffing attacks or to exploit a web-based vulnerability. Over the course of 18 months, Akamai uncovered more than 800 DDoS attacks against the financial services industry alone.

Attackers are targeting financial services organizations at their weak points: the consumer, web applications and availability, because that's what works, said McKeay. Businesses are becoming better at detecting and defending against these attacks, but point defenses are bound to fail. It requires being able to detect, analyze, and defend against an intelligent criminal who's using multiple different types of tools for a business to protect its customers. For more than twenty years, Akamai has been leveraging its unique visibility into the full spectrum of attacks to help protect customers from these types of ever-evolving nefarious activities.

The criminal economy thrives, in part, because they target the financial services industry. By targeting banks for example, criminals attempt to steal sensitive data, and then turn around and use that same data to open fake accounts and lines of credit. Its a continuous cycle of crime. There is a deep level of irony in the fact that criminals are targeting the very industry they need to survive. While financial institutions are becoming better at detecting these attacks, adversaries continue to find success with old tricks, and that's a problem.

The Akamai 2019 State of the Internet / Security Report is available for download here. For additional information where the security community can access, engage with, and learn from Akamai's threat researchers and the insight that the Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform affords into the evolving threat landscape, visit Akamai's Threat Research Hub.

About Akamai Akamai secures and delivers digital experiences for the world's largest companies. Akamai's intelligent edge platform surrounds everything, from the enterprise to the cloud, so customers and their businesses can be fast, smart, and secure. Top brands globally rely on Akamai to help them realize competitive advantage through agile solutions that extend the power of their multi-cloud architectures. Akamai keeps decisions, apps and experiences closer to users than anyone - and attacks and threats far away. Akamai's portfolio of edge security, web and mobile performance, enterprise access and video delivery solutions is supported by unmatched customer service, analytics and 24/7/365 monitoring. To learn why the world's top brands trust Akamai, visit www.akamai.com, blogs.akamai.com, or @Akamai on Twitter. You can find our global co
LINK: https://www.akamai.com/uk/en/about/news/press/2019-press/state-of-the-...
See more stories from akami

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

27/05/2026

Telestream Appoints Benjamin Desbois as CEO, Effective July 1

Telestream has announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Benjamin Desbois as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2026. Desbois, currently Teles...

27/05/2026

FOX MLB Leads Live-Event Categories; ESPN Is Tops Overall at 47th Annual Sports Emmy Awards

ESPN garnered 10 awards; NBC's Sunday Night Football received the Outstandin...

27/05/2026

Matrox Video Marks 50th Anniversary, Announces New Product Launch for June

Matrox Video is celebrating its 50th anniversary, marking five decades of operations from its headquarters in Montreal, Canada. Founded in 1976, the company has...

27/05/2026

MLB Announces Fan Engagement Initiatives for Americas 250th Anniversary

Major League Baseball has announced a series of initiatives tied to America's Semiquincentennial, including a national marketing campaign, Fourth of July br...

27/05/2026

Advanced Systems Group Hires Brian Gross as Account Manager for Audio Team

Advanced Systems Group (ASG) has announced that Brian Gross has joined the company as an Account Manager on its Audio team, based in the Burbank office. He will...

27/05/2026

Nielsen Research: Hispanic Fans, Asian Markets Drive Global Soccer Audience Ahead of World Cup 2026

Nielsen has released new research on soccer fandom ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2...

27/05/2026

ESL FACEIT Group Debuts First Ever Esports Vertical Stream Co-Developed With TikTok

ESL FACEIT Group (EFG) has unveiled a new partnership with TikTok to bring broad...

27/05/2026

Two Weeks Away: FIFA Outlines Production Plans for Highly Anticipated North American-Based World Cup

FIFA's Oscar Sanchez gives a deeper look to how this tournament will be cove...

27/05/2026

SVG Students To Watch: Maggie Lynn, Virginia Tech

The soon-to-be senior from Charlottesville is building her skills in replay, TD, and even creative content for HokieVision and its ACC Network productions In t...

27/05/2026

A Global Festival of Football: FOX Sports Illustrates Strategy to Bring Every FIFA Mens World Cup Match to the U.S. Audience

FOX Sports' Mike Davies breaks down the vision for this summer's showcas...

27/05/2026

Top-Tier Storytelling: Host Broadcast Services Works at Capturing the Atmosphere of the FIFA Mens World Cup

HBS's Paul King, FIFA's Oscar Sanchez preview how the masses at home wil...

27/05/2026

Matt Gangl & Pete Macheska on FOX MLBs Huge Night and an Unforgettable Postseason Run

FOX's MLB coverage dominated the night at the 47th Annual Sports Emmy Awards...

27/05/2026

FOXs Mike Davies and Team on Outstanding Technical Team Win for 2025 World Series

One of the most memorable Postseasons in baseball history would have had no memo...

27/05/2026

NBC Sports Rob Hyland Reflects on an Unforgettable Sunday Night Football Season

NBC's Sunday Night Football is among the most decorated and most watched programs in the history of television. It added to its jam-packed trophy case on Tu...

27/05/2026

Prime Videos John Ward and Mike Francis on Groundbreaking NBA on Prime Video Studio

The 2026 Sports Emmys marked a watershed moment for Prime Video Sports. After bu...

27/05/2026

Countdown to FIFA World Cup 2026: SVG Launches SportsTechLive Blog in Lead-up to Winter Games

With the Opening Match just over two weeks away, the entire sports-production-te...

27/05/2026

Spotify Brings Long-Form Magazine Articles to Audio

Spotify already brings together listeners' favorite music, podcasts, and audiobooks in one place. Now, we're trialing a new format that expands the cont...

27/05/2026

Podcast Clips Make Your Favorite Moments Easier to Save and Share

The best podcast moments deserve more than just a mental note. That's why today, we're making those moments easier to save and share with clips. Whethe...

27/05/2026

Spotify and Netflix Partner With Jay Shetty to Bring On Purpose' to Video Across Both Platforms

On Purpose is one of the most popular podcasts in the world, known for conversat...

27/05/2026

Olivia Rodrigo Brings Billions Club Live to Barcelona: Watch the Concert Film Now

On May 8, 1,500 of Olivia Rodrigo's top fans gathered in Barcelona's Tea...

27/05/2026

JZ Microphones announce the MU-1

Hybrid design combines large-diaphragm capsule & ribbon JZ Microphones have teamed up with Grammy-winning producer and engineer Marc Urselli to develop a ne...

27/05/2026

Tape Effects Collection from AIR Music Tech

Three new plug-ins inspired by classic tape effects AIR Music Tech's latest release delivers a set of plug-ins that aim to capture the character, moveme...

27/05/2026

The Crow Hill Company's Absurdly Quiet Piano goes Pro

Piano played on the edge of silence The Crow Hill Company's Vaults collection offers a continual rotation of instruments that are given away for free fo...

27/05/2026

Arturia release Memory V

Recreates Moog's iconic Memorymoog polysynth Arturia's vast software instrument range offers a combination of new and old, with innovative modern so...

27/05/2026

Accentize introduce free dxLevel plug-in

Offers loudness levelling for speech and dialogue Accentize have built up a solid reputation with their audio-restoration tools, and their latest plug-in is...

27/05/2026

10,000 units strong - The Rohde & Schwarz R&S M3SR Radio 4400

10,000 units strong - The Rohde & Schwarz R&S M3SR Radio 4400 Rohde & Schwarz celebrates a major manufacturing milestone, producing its 10,000th R&S M3SR Radi...

27/05/2026

L3Harris Introduces the XL Converge 300P Portable Public Safety Radio

The XL Converge 300P radio system emerges with a groundbreaking feature set enhancing the mission-critical communications of public safety, federal and critica...

27/05/2026

Modernizing Public Safety Communications

Pairing Two47 MCX software with existing LTE networks means tailored system upgrades that can save time, money and lives....

27/05/2026

L3Harris Strengthens Global Solid Rocket Motor Supply Chain With New PAC-3 Propulsion Supplier

PAC-3 MSE offers improved range, speed, and maneuverability, making it an effect...

27/05/2026

Brightcove Adds New Features to Its AI Suite for Video Advertising

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/05/2026

Star Trek VFX: Recreating John Knoll's Iconic Warp Stars without a Slitscan Camera

Star Trek VFX: Recreating John Knoll's Iconic Warp Stars without a Slitscan ...

27/05/2026

Adventure World Uses Blackmagic Replay for Marine Live

Adventure World Uses Blackmagic Replay for Marine Live Brie Clayton May 27, 2026 0 Comments Large screen displays and slow motion replays dynamically ...

27/05/2026

Berklee Alumna and Assistant Professor Olivia Prez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona

Berklee Alumna and Assistant Professor Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Origi...

27/05/2026

Gravity Media Expands Into Creative Services With New Agency

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/05/2026

Tegna Names Patrick Paolini as CEO

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/05/2026

Telestream Taps Company Vet Benjamin Desbois as CEO

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/05/2026

HDR10+ Technologies to Launch Eclipsa Video Certification Program

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/05/2026

ATSC to Gather in Washington Next Week for Annual Meeting

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/05/2026

Telestream Appoints Benjamin Desbois as Chief Executive O...

Co-founder Dan Castles to transition to Executive Chair; internal promotion reinforces continuity and long-term growth Telestream, a global leader in media wor...

27/05/2026

Big Blue Marble Announces First End-to-End 5G Broadcast S...

Big Blue Marble today announced that its Nakolos platform is the first end-to-end 5G Broadcast solution worldwide to implement the complete feature set introduc...

27/05/2026

Lightware Continues Its ESG Commitment Through Girls Day...

Lightware recently hosted the Girls' Day event in April at its headquarters in Budapest, welcoming students for an interactive introduction to engineering a...

27/05/2026

VEON's Kyivstar and Uklon Launch Ukraine's First Live Testing of Autonomous Vehicle Technology

27 May 2026 VEON's Kyivstar and Uklon Launch Ukraine's First Live Testi...

26/05/2026

Matrox Video Marks 50 Year Milestone

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

26/05/2026

Roku Expands Premium Subscriptions With Fox One

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

26/05/2026

Brian Gross Joins ASG's Audio Team as Account Manager

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...