Proofpoint Finds Phishing Surging Across Europe

Proofpoint researchers report that phishing threats rose 4.5 times across Europe from 2025 to 2026, compared with a global rise of 1.5 times. The UK shows a particularly sharp trajectory, with a six-fold increase over the same period. The firm’s telemetry, based on July 2025 to September 2026 data, indicates European users now click 8.3 out of every 100 delivered threat messages, versus 2.0 globally, suggesting higher engagement with phishing campaigns in Europe.

In the same report, precision cloud attacks are shown to be meeting with higher success, with 64% of European organisations targeted by such attacks displaying evidence of compromise. Daniel Blackford, VP of threat research, said these targeted operations use techniques like phishing and session hijacking to access specific users and accounts, and are more effective than broader brute-force methods.

The report also notes sector-specific impacts: malware accounted for 21% of detected threats in hospitality and leisure, and healthcare saw a 257% year-on-year rise in callback phishing with malware detections up 84%. Espionage activities are expanding across Europe, with South Asian threat actors extending into Western Europe while Russian and Chinese state-aligned groups evolve tactics.

The analysis highlights rising adoption of cloud services and AI, including over 188,000 AI-enabled applications connected via authentication and OAuth, and a 4.6-fold increase in detections targeting open-source AI technologies across recent 90-day periods.