According to Odaily Planet Daily, the latest cyber threat report released by Avast shows that in the first quarter of 2024, social engineering occupies a significantly dominant position in cyber threats. Nearly 90% of cyberattacks on mobile devices and 87% of cyberattacks on desktop devices involve scams, phishing, and malvertising, exploiting human vulnerabilities more than technical vulnerabilities. There has been a significant increase in scams using advanced technologies such as deepfake videos and AI-manipulated audio.
These scams often use hijacked YouTube channels and other social media platforms to spread fraudulent content. The report highlights that such deceptions are becoming more sophisticated, with cybercriminals using high-profile events and figures to increase the credibility of their scams. YouTube, in particular, has become a key vector for these threats.
Avast's telemetry data shows that 4 million unique users were protected from YouTube-based threats over the past year, with approximately 500,000 users protected in the first quarter alone. Cybercriminals are increasingly taking advantage of YouTube's automated advertising and user-generated content capabilities to bypass traditional security measures and deploy everything from phishing campaigns to malware distribution.
