Report: Mobile Phishing to Steal Government Credentials Increased 67% in 2020 – By Mariam Baksh (Nextgov) / Feb 24 2021
State and local governments are more exposed than federal agencies in the new teleworking age, but threats have increased across the board.
In 2020, malicious hackers targeting government workers’ devices drastically sharpened the focus of their phishing efforts on obtaining victims’ login credentials—as opposed to delivering malware—making for more invasive and persistent attacks, according to a report from mobile security firm Lookout.
“Over 70% of phishing attacks against government organizations sought to steal login credentials, which is a 67% increase from 2019,” reads a key finding from the report released Wednesday. The report makes use of data from nearly 200 million devices and over 135 million mobile apps specific to government agencies Lookout serves.
The firm posits that the shift to remote work brought on by the pandemic will endure and is causing more government entities to consider telling their workers it’s OK to “bring your own device,” or BYOD. But a look at the numbers in 2020 suggests increased use of such policies could lead to a new blindspot that hackers are already exploiting.
