Overview
- Check Point’s June 1 report found a sharp rise in election-related domain registrations and tracked roughly 9,500 leaked ActBlue credentials and 6,500 WinRed credentials that are already circulating in criminal markets.
- Email phishing is the dominant entry point, with Check Point reporting that 82% of malicious file attacks arrive by email and that stolen credentials enable account takeover and targeted social engineering.
- Researchers documented cloning of major media brands through lookalike domains that can host fake articles or donation pages, creating rapid pathways for misinformation to appear to come from trusted outlets.
- Analysts say generative AI is lowering the cost and raising the quality of phishing and deceptive content, letting attackers scale personalized lures and deepfake-style material faster than before.
- State officials report reduced federal operational support from CISA, so defenders are leaning on brand monitoring, credential scanning, rapid takedowns and staff training, and vendors report high takedown rates and new mitigation tools.