Social Engineering Attacks Surged In The First Half Of 2025
KnowBe4, Wednesday, August 6th, 2025
Cybersecurity incidents nearly tripled in the first half of 2025, jumping from 6% in the second half of 2024 to 17% in 2025, according to a new report from LevelBlue.
Business email compromise (BEC) remains the most common method for initial access, but non-BEC tactics rose by 214%. The researchers observed a major surge in social engineering attacks, driven by the recent popularity of the ClickFix tactic.
'The LevelBlue Threat Trends Report found a massive uptick in social engineering attacks, accounting for 39% of initial access incidents observed during the first half of the year,' the researchers write.