Phishing on social media sites increased by nearly 75% in the 1st quarter of 2019

Vade Secure is a cyber-security firm particularly interested in the prevention of email hacking. Its "Phisher's Favorites" report for 1Q2019 indicates that social media is increasingly vulnerable to these hacks. Phishing on the relevant sites has increased by 74.7% in a quarter-on-quarter basis. Vade reports that Facebook and Instagram are particularly strongly linked to these attacks.

Facebook has enjoyed a top-10 position in Vade's rankings for most-phished sites since the first Phisher's Favorites report. However, 1Q2019 was apparently the first one in which Instagram broke into the top 25. Vade noted that Facebook's recent 'plain-text-gate', as well as its growing habit of requiring the email credentials of new users, were likely factors in keeping it at #4.

Microsoft, on the other hand, remained unchallenged at #1. The Office 365 login reportedly remained an easy target for phishers. These hackers may also now redirect users to legitimate Microsoft content after lifting credentials with their own scripts.

Finally, a technique involving a mix of real and fake URLs, as well as mobile email apps that may combine messages for many different addresses (corporate ones included), were found to contribute to Netflix's #3 ranking on Vade's list.