The energy industry experienced a 161% surge in mobile phishing in the last year.

Between July 2020 and June 2021, 20% of energy employees were subject to a mobile phishing attack and more than 17% of all mobile cyberattacks were targeted at energy companies – making it the most-hit industry.

This is according to a new study by cyber security company Lookout, which looked at data from more than 200 million devices.

The research found the energy industry to be so heavily attacked due to criminals’ attempts to gain access to corporate infrastructure, steal sensitive data and extort money.

Energy organisations understandably have higher levels of data due to a heavy customer base and this could be one of the reasons it was so heavily pursued in the last year.

Stephen Banda, Senior Manager of Security Solutions at Lookout, said: “As the energy industry modernises and relies more heavily on mobile devices and cloud solutions, these insights into mobile phishing and app threats can help organisations strengthen their security program.

“We recommend organisations train employees about the dangers of mobile phishing attacks and have dedicated solutions in place to secure against them. They also need visibility into mobile app and operating system vulnerabilities to safeguard corporate data.”