A new study reveals which states are most worried about phishing.
Phishing is a type of cyber-attack tricking victims to reveal sensitive information such as passwords or credit cards.
The research conducted by DNS filtering company, Control D, analyzed 50 states based on the number of times per month each Googles a term related to phishing.
The data includes 19 keywords, such as “phishing definition,” “what is phishing,” “phishing email,” “phishing attack,” “phishing email examples,” “phishing scam”, “phishing email definition,” “how to report phishing,” “anti-phishing,” and “PayPal phishing.”
The number of searches for each term was then added to give a total for each state. This was then compared to the population to calculate the number of searches per 100,000 people.
The experts have also analyzed data from Forbes’ The States Most Affected by Phishing Scams 2024 Report revealing each state’s financial loss to phishing per 100,000 residents, the number of phishing victims per 100,000 residents and the rates of phishing from 2018 to 2022.
In the list, Florida was among the top 10 states most worried about phishing ranking #6 out of all 50 states.
Virginia is the most worried state, with a total of 6,787 searches per month and 77.87 searches per 100,000 people.
Phishing attacks are a significant issue in Virginia, reflecting broader national and global trends in cybersecurity threats.
Virginia’s top search terms are “phishing definition,” “what is phishing,” and “define phishing.”
In Forbes’ Phishing Scams Report, Virginia ranks 26th place, with a financial loss of $4,995.27 per 100,000 residents and an average of 6.23 victims per 100,000.
From 2018 to 2022, the number of victims in Virginia has decreased by -60.82%.
Maryland ranks second most worried, with a total average of 4,727 searches per month and 76.48 searches per 100,000 people.
In Forbes’ Phishing Scams Report, Maryland ranks at 25th place, with a financial loss of $1,857.46 per 100,000 residents and an average of 5.45 victims per 100,000.
The number of phishing victims in Virginia has decreased by -14.07% from 2018-2022.
New York ranks third most concerned state, with an average of 67.81 searches per 100,000 residents and a total average of 13,721 per month.
NY ranks fifth in Forbes’ Phishing Scams Report, with 5.29 phishing victims per 100,000 residents. A total of $17,283.56 is lost to phishing per 100,000 residents and the state has seen a 11.47% decrease in phishing victims.
Georgia ranks fourth, generating an average of 7,242 searches per month and 65.66 per 100,000 people.
In Forbes’ Phishing Scams Report, Georgia ranks 27th with a loss of $5,589.07 per 100,000 people and 4.2 victims per 100,000.
Massachusetts is the fifth most concerned state, with an average of 4,562 searches per month and 65.15 per 100,000.
Massachusetts ranks 14th in Forbes’ Phishing Scams Report, with 4.7 phishing victims per 100,000 residents and a financial loss of $9,570.09 per 100,000. The number phishing victims has decreased by -26.95%.
West Virginia is the least worried state, generating just 50 searches per 100,000 people.
In Forbes’ Phishing Scams Report, West Virginia is the 8th last affected state, ranking at 44, there are 3.32 phishing victims and a $6,302.28 loss per 100,000 people.
In Forbes’ Phishing Scams Report, Nevada scored highest as the most affected state. In Control D’s study, Nevada is the 16th most worried state about phishing.
In Forbes’ Phishing Scams Report, Kansas is the least affected state by phishing. In Control D’s study, Kansas ranks the 30th most worried state, being the 20th least worried state about phishing.
