Times Colonist

CIBC among top brands used in phishing attacks

- ARMINA LIGAYA

TORONTO — The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is one of the most commonly targeted brands used by cyberthiev­es in phishing attacks across North America, with a more than 600 per cent surge in fake email attempts in the third quarter, according to analysis by an email security firm.

Vade Secure’s research shows that during that period, CIBC was the lone Canadian company among the top 25 brands used by cybercrimi­nals trying to trick people into handing over their credential­s and confidenti­al data, according to the France-based company’s engine.

The bank was ranked 25th and used in an average of 5.3 new phishing links per day during the third quarter, an increase of more than 622 per cent from the previous quarter, the analysis showed.

The email security firm’s chief executive, Adrien Gendre, said each of these links, which typically mimic official webpages, can be sent to thousands of users.

It’s unclear what is behind the surge in phishing activity, but one factor could be CIBC’s launch of its Simplii Financial direct banking brand last year, Gendre said. When users are less familiar with what interactio­ns to expect, they are easier to deceive with a fake email, he said.

“Every new service, it’s a good target for phishing. People will click more on it,” Gendre said.

Vade Secure, based in Lille, France, protects 500 million inboxes and its conclusion­s were based on the phishing attacks detected by its artificial-intelligen­ce powered platform.

CIBC said “cyber security is an evolving space that we monitor closely.

“We have multiple layers of security in place and continuous­ly invest to safeguard our clients,” spokesman Tom Wallis wrote in an emailed statement.

The email security firm’s analysis comes as Canadian banks continue to ramp up their spending on technology, including cybersecur­ity defences, and months after BMO and Simplii said that thousands of customers may have had personal and financial data compromise­d.

In May, BMO said hackers contacted the bank claiming to be in possession of the personal data of fewer than 50,000 customers, and that the attack originated outside of Canada. At the same time, Simplii also warned that “fraudsters” may have accessed certain personal and account informatio­n for about 40,000 clients.

A leak of user data is often followed by a wave of phishing attacks or a malware attack months later, Gendre said. A few years ago, grammatica­l errors or language mistakes would easily signal that it was fraudulent, but now these fake webpages are often indistingu­ishable from the real thing, he added.

The three top targets in North American phishing attacks during the third quarter were Microsoft, PayPal and Netflix, but other large Canadian banks were also among the 86 brands tracked by Vade Secure. Bank of Montreal was in 33rd place with phishing activity up 317.5 per cent from the previous quarter, followed by Scotiabank in 47th place with activity up 53.1 per cent. Royal Bank of Canada and Toronto-Dominion Bank saw a drop in phishing activity, down 91 per cent and 57.6 per cent from the previous quarter, respective­ly, to put them in the 49h and 62nd spots. However, during the second quarter, RBC was in the 21st spot with a 767.3 per cent increase in phishing links, according to Vade Secure.

Gendre said cyberthiev­es typically cycle through different targets, switching to a new one as users become aware of the fake links and their attacks become less efficient.

RBC vice-president of cyber operations Adam Evans said that as the bank increases its global footprint, it becomes a bigger target for phishing attacks, but it has layers of security to protect against these kinds threats. The bank has also been increasing its cyber security budget and investing in technologi­es to mitigate this threat, he said.

 ??  ?? CIBC’S new Simplii Financial was a magnet for fake emails.
CIBC’S new Simplii Financial was a magnet for fake emails.

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