Apple ranks 11th on ‘Top 50 Brands Used in Phishing Attacks’

Cloudflare, Inc. — a “security, performance, and reliability company helping to build a better Internet” — has published a report on the Top 50 Brands Used in Phishing Attacks. Apple ranks 11th on the list.

“Phishing” refers to an attempt to steal sensitive information like usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, bank and crypto account information, or other important data in order to utilize or sell the stolen information. Today, phishing is the fastest growing Internet crime, and a threat to both consumers and businesses. 

According to CloudFlare CEO Matthew Price, by masquerading as a reputable source – sometimes with an enticing request, other times with a severe consequence – an attacker lures in the victim in order to trick them, similarly to how a fisherman uses bait to catch a fish. Oftentimes, these attempts come in the form of an email, text message, or mistyped website URL that looks like it’s from a well-known brand, but is actually a malicious party.

Cloudflare found that finance, technology, and telecom brands were the most commonly impersonated industries, notably for the unprecedented access and financial benefit that bank accounts, email and social media, and phone companies can give attackers. Technology and telecom companies are a unique threat because phishing attacks can intercept the emails and text messages that are used to verify a user’s identity via two-factor authentication. This means these phishing attempts can lead to other accounts being compromised as well.

The top 50 brands we found, along with the most commonly used domain for phishing those brands can be found on Cloudflare’s blog. The top 10 on the list are AT&T, PayPal, Microsoft, DHL, Facebook (Meta), the IRS, Oath Holdings/Verizon, Mitsubishi, Adobe, and Amazon.