Cybersecurity: Spammers Shift from Mass Messages to Targeted Attacks

In the first half of 2026, cybercriminals abandoned mass email distribution practices, shifting toward time-distributed, small-scale, and targeted attacks. Experts note that such messages appear less suspicious to users, yet a significant portion of them are successfully blocked before reaching the destination. This is reported by Ixbt.com reports .

According to Ixbt.com, this was announced by representatives of the Yandex 360 service. Over the past year, the volume of emails processed by the system increased by 12 percent, reaching a record 50 billion messages. At the same time, the number of malicious messages intercepted at the verification stage increased by 73 percent.

According to statistics, another 5.7 billion messages were automatically routed to the spam folder. Security system analysis shows that nearly half of unwanted messages were directly related to attempts to steal users' personal data.

New Methods of Cybercrime

Experts emphasize that this year, the volume of phishing attacks increased by 45 percent, while cases of sender address spoofing grew by 50 percent, reaching approximately 20 million. Fraudsters have recently been trying to disguise their messages as notifications from government agencies and well-known companies.

Additionally, the share of messages containing malicious applications has increased by a third, indicating that attackers' technical capabilities are becoming increasingly complex.

Modern Security Technologies

To timely detect and prevent such threats, the Yandex 360 platform utilizes advanced technologies. In particular, these include deep analysis of images in messages, post-delivery re-checks, and special algorithms evaluating thousands of features for each message.

Experts warn that the change in cybercriminals' tactics requires users to further increase digital hygiene and caution. Being critical of messages coming on behalf of official authorities is more important than ever.