In its recent fraud report, security company RSA has pegged the global losses from phishing at $1.5 billion in 2012, a 22 percent increase from 2011. The total number of such attacks grew 59 percent from 258,461 in 2011 to 445,004 in 2012.
The overall trend showed a steady rise in volume throughout the year, reaching an all-time high in July 2012, with 59,406 attacks detected in a single month. The lowest number of 29,581 attacks were recorded in December 2012.
The US was once again the top hosting country for phishers, with 53 percent of attacks originating from there, followed by Germany, UK and Brazil.
In its forecast for 2013, RSA expects to see more phishing attacks directed at smartphone users. Cybercriminals will increasingly exploit mobile apps to target users with phishing and other malicious content. According to Gartner, the number of mobile app downloads will grow to over 185 billion by 2015.
The report also anticipates more phishing attacks targeted at social networking sites, rather than through traditional spam mail.