The overall data pattern reveals that British Members of Parliament (MPs) have been targeted by 22,321,459 malicious email attacks across a period of 8 months, with the data drawn from January 1 to August, 31, 2020. This averages out at 2,790,182 attacks per month.
The same period in 2019 saw just 1,747,759 monthly average attacks were aimed at MPs. This means the curent rise in attacks represents a 60 percent increase when compared to last year’s figures.
Looking at this renewed assault on democracy is Ed Macnair, CEO of Censornet.
Macnair sees the increase in attacks as a consequence of the disruption caused by the current global pandemic, noting: “The volume of email attacks against MPs demonstrates once again that criminals are attempting to exploit the chaos created by the COVID-19 pandemic. It also shows that email attacks remain a popular technique for hackers, even when launching campaigns against high profile targets. The reason criminals are churning out malicious emails at such a speed – three million a month – is sadly because it is extremely effective. It takes only one email to slip through the net to cause havoc.”
Macnair also notes that, to date, UK authorities have been successful in holding back the cyber-tidal wave, stating: “Thankfully, the government has managed to block these attacks but the prevalence of COVID-19 scams means all organisations must remain on high alert.”
With the main preventative actions, Macnair indicates: “Education is a part of the solution but, when you are facing millions of threats, technology has to be the number one line of defence. In order to efficiently protect against these evolving attacks, organisations of all sizes require email security that combines algorithmic analysis, threat intelligence and executive name checking to protect their employees and ensure there are no slips as we all work at high-capacity to overcome the business challenges brought about by the pandemic.”
