"Email Threat Predictions for 2021"
Dan Fein, the Director of Email Security Products at the AI cybersecurity company Darktrace, gave his predictions about new tactics and techniques that email attackers could use in 2021. According to Fein, attackers will attempt to commit more supply chain fraud than CEO fraud as attackers can impact thousands of companies by sending fraudulent invoices from one compromised company. This shift of direction is indicated by the decrease in spoofing attacks against the C-suite and the increase in attacks targeting staff in accounts payable departments observed earlier this year. Attacks aimed at compromising email accounts will be more capable of evading multifactor authentication as they continue to grow in sophistication. The average life span of a phishing attack will continue to decrease, making it harder to block malicious IPs, identify indicators of compromise, and find the specific threat actors behind these attacks. Fein's other predictions pertaining to email threats in 2021 include an increase in email-borne fraudulent invoices and single-use phishing domains and a decrease in the deployment of email security solutions and third-party gateways via Mail Exchanger (MX) Records. This article continues to discuss email threat predictions for 2021 and the importance of adopting adaptive email security technology.