Cybersecurity Awareness Month: Phishing Remains Leading Cyberattack Method

Cybersecurity firm AV-TEST has released data underscoring phishing's status as the world's most prevalent cyberattack method.

An estimated 390 billion emails are sent globally each day, with nearly half classified as spam. Of this spam, approximately 3 to 5 percent are phishing attempts, equating to up to 9 billion emails daily. While robust filters block many, even a 1 percent success rate means 90 million phishing emails could reach inboxes every day.

Microsoft registered 8.3 billion threats originating from phishing emails in the first quarter of 2026 alone. AV-TEST experts continuously collect and analyze spam and phishing emails. Their findings indicate that over 60 percent of 10,000 spam emails examined contained a dangerous link, and 30 percent had malicious attachments.

Phishing relies on attackers impersonating trustworthy entities to trick victims into divulging sensitive information like login credentials or payment details. This long-standing threat continues to evolve, with methods like smishing (via SMS), quishing (via QR codes), and vishing (via voice calls) expanding attack vectors. The "ClickFix" technique is noted as a particularly insidious method that tricks users into executing malicious commands by displaying fake technical error messages.