CYREN Internet Threats Trend Report Shows 73 Percent Increase in Phishing URLs Related to PayPal

MCLEAN, Virginia, May 27, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- CYREN (NASDAQ: CYRN), a leading provider of cloud-based security solutions, published its April 2014 Internet Threats Trend Report.  Among its findings, The CYREN GlobalView™ Security Lab revealed a 73 percent increase in the number of phishing attacks aimed at PayPal users. 

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The upward trend illustrates the move by cybercriminals from less profitable spam to attacks that generate more revenue. PayPal remains the consistent favorite due to its wide acceptance across the internet and the ease with which funds can be transferred between accounts. 

During a two-week sampling taken during the first quarter of this year, CYREN researchers found the number of PayPal related phishing URLs increased from approximately 750 a day in Q4 2013 to more than 1,300 a day in Q1 2014. That increase made it the most heavily used lure at more than 18,600 phishing URLs during the two-week sample period. Other top brands used to lure email recipients were Apple, Poste Italiane, Barclays Bank, Battle.net and Sparkasse.

The first lottery scams involving the FIFA World Cup also appeared. Both of the previous World Cups in 2010 and 2006 were used for almost identical scams. CYREN partner PhishLabs observed a new wave of phishing attacks using residential IP address space and personal computers to install and host phishing sites. 

Additional findings included:

• Android malware grew in complexity and included encrypted peer to peer functionality used to track user activity and steal data.  
• Spam levels continued their downward trend, averaging 54 billion emails per day. The downward trend is due to several factors including the lower income per message, a reduction in affiliate revenue from spam, and the relative profitability of other attack vectors – illustrated by the increase in PayPal phishing. 
• Diet spammers using the distribution of press releases to gain "legitimate" news featured on the Wall Street Journal and Reuters websites. 

The CYREN Internet Threats Trend Report is based on a comprehensive analysis of billions of daily transactions handled by the CYREN GlobalView Cloud Platform. To download the entire report, visit: www.CYREN.com/security-center.

About CYREN
CYREN is a leading provider of cloud-based security solutions that deliver powerful protection through global data intelligence. Regardless of the device or its location, CYREN's easily deployed web, email, and anti-malware products deliver uncompromising protection in both embedded and Security as a Service (SecaaS) deployments. Organizations rely on CYREN's cloud-based threat detection and proactive security analytics to provide up-to-date spam classifications, URL categorization and malware detection services. The CYREN GlobalView™ Cloud Platform leverages Recurrent Pattern Detection™ technologies to protect more than 550 million users in 190 countries. CYREN is traded on the NASDAQ Capital Market and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) under the trading symbol "CYRN." Visit the CYREN GlobalView Security Center or go to www.CYREN.com.

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This press release contains forward-looking statements, including projections about our business, within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. For example, statements in the future tense, and statements including words such as "expect," "plan," "estimate," "anticipate," or "believe" are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on information available to us at the time of the press release; we assume no obligation to update any of them. The statements in this press release are not guarantees of future performance and actual results could differ materially from our current expectations as a result of numerous factors, including business conditions and growth or deterioration in the internet security market, technological developments, products offered by competitors, availability of qualified staff, and technological difficulties and resource constraints encountered in developing new products, as well as those risks described in the company's Annual Reports on Form 20-F and reports on Form 6-K, which are available through www.sec.gov.  

U.S. Investor Contact             
Monica Gould                                                                        
The Blueshirt Group                                                              
+1 212.871.3927                                                    
monica@blueshirtgroup.com

Israel Investor Contact
Iris Lubitch                    
EffectiveIR
+972.54.2528007
iris@EffectiveIR.co.il

Company Contact:
Mike Myshrall, Interim CFO
CYREN
+1 703.760.3320
mike.myshrall@CYREN.com

Media Contact
Matthew Zintel      
Zintel Public Relations
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