Spear phishing, which poses a threat to all organizations that hold personal data, instigated more than 90% of cyberattacks and breaches in 2015, costing businesses $4.5 billion, per the Anti-Phishing Working Group.

And a new whitepaper, "The Rise of Spear Phishing" from the San Mateo, Calif.-based Agari, shed light on why email is a very effective instrument for criminals, as well as why spear phishing attacks continue to evolve in sophistication and use.

For example, spear phishing attacks on select employees at credit unions, banks and professional services firms often focus on convincing employees to wire money to the phishers' accounts, it said.

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Roy Urrico

Roy W. Urrico specializes in articles about financial technology and services for Credit Union Times, as well as ghostwriting, copywriting, and case studies. Also: writer/editor of a semi-annual newsletter for Association for Financial Technology since 1997 and history projects funded by the U.S Interior Department, National Park Service and Warren County (N.Y.).