[ITmedia News] Has it changed to phishing due to a series of information leaks? Concerns about the emergence of “fraudulent emails exclusively for that person”

Since the end of September, there has been a series of unauthorized accesses targeting companies, and the personal information of users and others has been leaked everywhere. Victim companies have stated that ``the leaked information has not been misused,'' and are calling for caution against fraudulent emails and phone calls, but are there any changes in the number of reported fraudulent emails? We asked companies and organizations that monitor trends about trends from late September to October.

Phishing emails are on the rise

According to the Anti-Phishing Council, which collects information on phishing scams, although a direct relationship with a series of unauthorized accesses has not been confirmed, the number of reported phishing emails is on the rise. However, he notes that the number of cases reported per month in recent years has decreased to about half of what it was between October 2025 and January 2026, adding that he has reservations, saying, ``It could also be interpreted as (simply) increasing again.''

On the other hand, the number of phishing site URLs (excluding duplicates) has not decreased as much as the number of reports, and warns, ``It appears that the method of distributing the same URL in large numbers has decreased.Therefore, if attackers develop their infrastructure in the future, it is possible that they will be disseminated in large numbers again.''

"Attack targeting companies that benefit the attacker is increasing"

A survey by security firm Check Point Technologies also found that the number of phishing emails is on the rise. Although the content of the emails has not changed significantly, ``Currently, attacks targeting companies that benefit the attackers are increasing.'' (The company)

However, it is not clear whether the attack is related to a series of leaks, and it is not certain whether the leaked information is being misused.

On the other hand, the company says that the leaked information may improve the accuracy of phishing. For example, targeting will become more accurate based on leaked information, and it is possible that common fake emails such as ``failed to withdraw membership fee'' or ``additional bill'' will reach people who are likely to experience such a situation.

"By linking together various types of leaked personal information, we expect that the outline of the target's profile will become clearer and it will be easier to create a convincing phishing scenario," the company said.

Tobira Systems, which provides tools to prevent fraudulent calls and emails, is sounding the same alarm. The agency declined to comment on the number of cases detected, saying it does not disclose the number of cases detected, but said, ``There is a strong possibility that special scams that misuse personal information, phishing scams, etc. will increase in the future.''

In fact, the company's research states that ``we have begun to see emails containing different personal information or URLs in each message,'' and that ``unlike the traditional methods of sending emails indiscriminately, there is a possibility that in the future there will be methods that target individuals.''

Phishing that is expected to become more malicious, what are the countermeasures?

Phishing attacks are expected to become more malicious. Companies are calling for countermeasures, and individuals are being urged to take basic measures such as implementing multi-factor authentication and not directly accessing URLs in emails.

As for companies, it seems that they need to be careful about emails pretending to be from customer support or internal organizations. Check Point Technologies says, ``Although the content is general, we recommend that you remain cautious for a while regarding content that purports to be customer support.In particular, companies should be wary of content that requests emergency response to internal IT departments, internal training, etc.''

In particular, the company says to be wary of techniques that exploit calendar sharing files such as ".ics". ``Among the notifications from IT tools and services such as Microsoft products that are often used by companies, we recommend that you consult your security personnel first for emails that request next-step actions or that have calendar invitations (.ics files) attached.''

Recently, there have been many cases of phishing targeting companies' important information and the damage caused by them. Even more vigilance may be necessary to prevent chain-reduction damage.