The Cofense Intelligence™ team analyzes millions of emails and malware samples to understand the phishing landscape. Despite a slight decline in July and August, Q3 2021 showed overall high levels of phishing volume, reminiscent of the sustained summer activity experienced in 2020. Threat actors continue to favor malware families that use Office documents as a delivery mechanism, while Trickbot campaigns employed a remarkable variety of new delivery mechanisms. In this report, we also analyzed the relationship between phishing and ransomware attacks, and the use of current events in Afghanistan as phishing lures.

Download our Q3 2021 Phishing Review and check out our predictions about what to expect going forward, including:

• A new subscription-based malware will join the phishing threat landscape
• Trickbot campaigns will increase in volume and in breadth of targeting
• Overall phishing activity will continue to follow the new pandemic-era patterns set in 2020, staying high through the fall and only decreasing in mid to late December