Blackmail
Impact of blackmail Blackmail makes up about 7 percent of spear-phishing attacks, the same percentage as business email compromise. Employees are just as likely to be targeted in a blackmail scam as a business email compromise attack. According to the FBI, the cost of extortion attacks, which includes blackmail, was more than $107 million in 2019. On average, attackers ask for a few hundred or a few thousand dollars, an amount that an individual would likely be able to pay. Due to the large volume of attacks, the small payments add up substantially for attackers. Blackmail scams are under-reported due to the intentionally embarrassing and sensitive nature of the threats. IT teams are often unaware of these attacks because employees don’t report the emails, regardless of whether they pay the ransom.
$107M The cost of extortion and blackmail attacks continue to increase
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