Press Release
Updated statement regarding LockBit claims
We have completed a thorough security investigation following yesterday’s tweets by LockBit claiming they had compromised Darktrace’s internal systems. We can confirm that there has been no compromise of our systems or any of our affiliate systems. Our service to our customers remains uninterrupted and is operating as normal and no further action is required.
Press Release
Statement regarding LockBit claims
Earlier this morning we became aware of tweets from LockBit, the cyber-criminal gang, claiming that they had compromised Darktrace’s internal security systems and had accessed our data. Our security teams have run a full review of our internal systems and can see no evidence of compromise. None of the LockBit social media posts link to any compromised Darktrace data. We will continue to monitor the situation extremely closely, but based on our current investigations we are confident that our systems remain secure and all customer data is fully protected.
Press Release
Phishing attempts targeting Black Friday shoppers surge 620% in the weeks leading into the holiday weekend
- New data from Darktrace reveals a 54% jump in phishing attacks impersonating well-known festive retailers like Walmart, Macy’s and Best Buy in just the last week
- Amazon is the most mimicked brand, making up 80% of phishing attacks in Darktrace’s analysis of global consumer brands
- Darktrace warns online holiday shoppers about prolific ‘Deal Watchdogs’ phishing campaign and publishes top tips on how to stay cyber safe over the holidays
- Volume of phishing attacks expected to jump a further 20-30% during Black Friday week
Shoppers heading into Black Friday this week face a wave of increasingly convincing scam emails, according to a new analysis by Darktrace, a global leader in AI for cybersecurity. Phishing attacks targeting Black Friday sales are spiking 620% since the start of November, while attacks mimicking well-known major retailers like Walmart, Macy’s and Best Buy have jumped 54% in the past week[1]. Amazon was the top target for brand impersonation in November, accounting for 80% of all phishing attacks involving major global brands tracked by Darktrace, far more than Apple, Netflix, or PayPal[2]. With attacks already surging, Darktrace warns the threat has not yet peaked, with phishing volumes forecast to climb a further 20–30% during Black Friday week (22–29 November).
The findings are based on an anonymized analysis of emails sent to businesses using Darktrace / EMAIL™, revealing clear trends in how scammers use seasonal lures and brand impersonation to target shoppers.
Throughout November, Darktrace has stopped multiple phishing scams sent from fake marketing domains like “Pal.PetPlatz.com” and “Epicbrandmarketing.com”. Some of these emails promote bogus deals on Rolex watches and Louis Vuitton bags, but most pretend to be from a fake brand called “Deal Watchdogs,” which claims to find the best online bargains for consumers. These emails advertise “can’t miss” Black Friday offers supposedly found on Amazon and use social engineering tactics to lure shoppers into clicking the links. Anyone who clicks is taken to a fake Amazon website, where attackers steal their data and payment information.
5 tips to stay safe while you fill your basket
Darktrace provides five tips to help shoppers stay safe while grabbing deals throughout the holiday season:
- Check every website (twice). Cybercriminals often set up sites that look almost identical to the real thing. Check the URL carefully – scammers might turn “John Lewis” into “J0hn Lewis” (with a zero) or use domains like “Amazondeals.com” to trick rushed consumers. If in doubt, look up reviews linked to the URL on trusted platforms such as Trustpilot.
- S is for both Santa and Secure. When on a shopping site, make sure the web address starts with https:// – the “s” signals a secure connection. If it’s just http://, someone may be able to view or alter the information you send, opening you up to data theft. Many browsers will flag insecure sites with a warning next to the address bar.
- Leave the rushing to the elves. Creating a sense of urgency is one of scammers’ favorite tricks. Countdown timers, “last few in stock” warnings and threats that an offer will disappear in minutes are designed to make people click before they think. If you feel pushed to act immediately, slow down and double-check it’s genuine.
- Look at the payment options. Legitimate online stores usually offer flexible ways to pay, including “pay later” options. Fraudulent or fake stores are more likely to insist on upfront payment only, or to push unusual methods such as cryptocurrency. If the only options feel odd, walk away.
- Be wary of Christmas miracles. Slogans like “buy one get one free” on high-ticket items or “below factory price” offers are classic lures to draw people onto fake sites where criminals can steal personal information. If a deal looks unrealistically generous, treat it with caution.
“The holiday inbox is a major hunting ground for scammers,” commented Nathaniel Jones, VP of Security & AI Strategy at Darktrace. “Attackers know people are expecting shipping updates, discount codes and last-minute deals from the retailers they love, so a fake email doesn’t have to work very hard to look believable. These attacks don’t just put consumers at risk of having their money and data stolen. Brands are also losing sales and loyalty as customers fall victim to these scams and become wary of genuine holiday offers.”
“These aren’t the badly written scam emails people were taught to ignore,” Jones continued. “Today’s phishing emails can be almost indistinguishable from the real thing, right down to the tone of voice and timing. That makes it incredibly tough for shoppers to tell what’s genuine in a busy inbox, and it leaves retailers picking up the pieces when their name and logo are used as bait.”
As phishing emails become harder to distinguish from genuine offers or delivery updates, traditional spam filters and cybersecurity training struggle to keep up. Businesses now need defenses that can quietly spot and block fake emails before they reach the inbox. AI-based security like Darktrace / EMAIL does this by spotting subtle warning signs that an email isn’t what it claims to be - such as unusual writing style and tone, strange links, unknown senders, or even odd-looking branding. This takes the pressure off people to spot tiny mistakes in a crowded inbox and helps businesses protect their brand, staff, and customers.
Darktrace’s unique capabilities are continuing to evolve to keep organizations ahead of threats in their inbox and beyond. On December 9th, Darktrace will launch new, industry first, innovations from email security through to the network. Sign up to the live launch event now to be the first to hear how Darktrace is closing gaps in cyber defenses across businesses.
About Darktrace
Darktrace is a global leader in AI for cybersecurity that keeps organizations ahead of the changing threat landscape every day. Founded in 2013, Darktrace provides the essential cybersecurity platform protecting organizations from unknown threats using its proprietary AI that learns from the unique patterns of life for each customer in real-time. The Darktrace ActiveAI Security Platform™ delivers a proactive approach to cyber resilience to secure the business across the entire digital estate – from network to cloud to email. It provides pre-emptive visibility into the customer’s security posture, transforms operations with a Cyber AI Analyst™, and detects and autonomously responds to threats in real-time. Breakthrough innovations from our R&D teams in Cambridge, UK, and the Hague, Netherlands have resulted in over 200 patent applications filed. Darktrace’s platform and services are supported by over 2,300 employees around the world who protect nearly 10,000 customers across all major industries globally. To learn more, visit http://www.darktrace.com
[1] Based on live tracking of phishing emails spoofing Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Macy's, Old Navy, 1800-Flowers across email inboxes protected by Darktrace. November 15th – November 21st 2025
[2] Comparison against Apple, eBay, Netflix, Alibaba and PayPal across a random sample of customer inboxes protected by Darktrace / EMAIL. 1st November – 21st November 2025
Phishing attempts targeting Black Friday shoppers surge 620% in the weeks leading into the holiday weekend
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Darktrace named a Challenger in first Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Email Security Platforms · Evaluated on Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute Darktrace, a global leader in AI for cybersecurity,today announces that Darktrace / EMAIL™, has been recognized in thefirst ever Gartner Magic Quadrant™ for Email Security Platforms (ESP) as a Challenger. Chris Kozup, Chief Marketing Officer, Darktrace, said of therecognition: “We are extremely proud to have been recognized in the first MagicQuadrant for ESP. We believe the factthat wehave seen such wide scale adoption is testament to the unique way in which wedevelop products to keep our customers safe from even the most sophisticated emailcompromises. We believe our placement reaffirms our dedication to deliveringexceptional customer service, and innovations that safeguard against the emailchallenges of today—and tomorrow.” Darktrace customers consistently acknowledge its exceptional customersupport, delivered by an award-winning[1]service team. Darktrace has the highest percentage of 5-star ratings with a 4.8rating on Gartner® Peer Insights™ out of 249 reviews as on[MW1] 19th December. We feel this unwavering commitment to customersatisfaction is evident in strong renewal rates and accelerated growth inDarktrace / EMAIL over the past few years, gaining almost 5,000 customers sinceits launch in 2019. Darktrace / EMAIL, one of the fastest-growing emailsecurity products on the market, is built on Darktrace’s unique Self-LearningAI, a multi-layered AI engine that leverages different types of AI includingNLP and behavioral analysis to detect threats, instead of traditional securitymeasures such as signatures and sandboxing. This approach enables Darktrace todetect and stop threats like business email compromise attacks and noveltechniques, including some 56% of which passed through customers’ other emailsecurity layers. This pioneering approach has enabled Darktrace to introduce industry-leadingcapabilities such as QR code analysis and automated incident investigations, alongsidedifferentiated functionality to help teams add new depth to their emailsecurity, including: Account take over and Lateral mail account compromise protection. Contributing yet another layer to the AI behavioural profile for each user, security teams can now spot early symptoms of account compromise or malicious insiders before a link or attachment payload is sent, and exfiltration occur Microsoft Teams security with advanced messaging analysis: Advancing beyond simple text analysis to behavioral and natural language content analysis that tracks context across both email and instant messaging to identify the approximately 38% of phishing, sophisticated social engineering and novel insider threats other solutions fail to capture · Drastically improveend user reporting with Cyber AI Analyst narratives: Real-time awareness training capabilities reduce falsepositives in phishing investigations by up to 60% by providing context specificanalysis of each received email to each employee as they interact with their mail.· MailboxSecurity Assistant to increase security team operational efficiency: All forms ofsecondary investigations can now automatically perform advanced behavioralbrowser analysis and stop malicious links within webpages, reducing manualeffort of security analysts to detecting phishing links, and allowing them to remediateup to 70% more malicious phishing links than before.· AI based,autonomous data loss prevention: to immediately protect organizations from misdirected emails,insider threats, and data loss—both classified and unclassified – using userbehavior and dynamic content analysis to determine sensitivity, removing administrativeoverhead from manual expressions and labeling.Marco Cavallo, IT Manager at Darktrace / EMAIL customer Arpa Industries comments:“During the POV, Darktrace / EMAIL showed how specific attacks weresurgically blocked. We realized that other tools wouldn’t have detected thesethreats.” Darktrace / EMAIL is part of Darktrace’s ActiveAI Security Platform™,offering network, cloud, endpoint, identity and operational technologyprotection from a single shared architecture, all built on Darktrace’s uniqueAI engine – providing a strong, integrated approach to threat prevention,detection and response across an organization’s entire digital footprint. Darktrace’s global presence supports a diverse and varied customer base,and adapts proactively to customer pain points of all kinds. Darktrace’sadaptability across all market segments, from SMBs to large enterprisessupports both first time email security buyers and mature email securitystacks. It is able to meet varied security needs with lower setuprequirements, includes capability for advanced depth in configuration and,particularly for mature organizations, can augment existing security providerswith additional protections. Download the fullMagic Quadrant for Email Security Platforms here Resources:· Read more onthe Darktrace Blog· Read more abouthow business email compromise attacks are evolving on The Inference Gartner disclaimersGartner, Magic Quadrant for EmailSecurity Platforms, Max Taggett, Nikul Patel, Franz Hinner, Deepak Mishra, 16December 2024 GARTNER is a registered trademarkand service mark of Gartner and Magic Quadrant and Peer Insights are aregistered trademark, of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. andinternationally and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved.
Gartner Peer Insights content consists of the opinions of individual endusers based on their own experiences with the vendors listed on the platform,should not be construed as statements of fact, nor do they represent the viewsof Gartner or its affiliates. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product orservice depicted in this content nor makes any warranties, expressed orimplied, with respect to this content, about its accuracy or completeness,including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particularpurpose. Gartner does not endorse any vendor,product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advisetechnology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or otherdesignation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’sresearch organization and should not be construed as statements of fact.Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to thisresearch, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for aparticular purpose. About DarktraceDarktrace is a global leader in AI for cybersecurity that keepsorganizations ahead of the changing threat landscape every day. Founded in2013, Darktrace provides the essential cybersecurity platform protectingorganizations from unknown threats using its proprietary AI that learns fromthe unique patterns of life for each customer in real-time. The DarktraceActiveAI Security Platform™ delivers a proactive approach to cyber resiliencewith pre-emptive visibility into security posture, real-time threat detection,and autonomous response – securing the business across cloud, email,identities, operational technology, endpoints, and network. Breakthroughinnovations from our R&D teams in Cambridge, UK, and The Hague, Netherlandshave resulted in over 200 patent applications filed. Darktrace’s platform andservices are supported by over 2,400 employees around the world who protectnearly 10,000 customers across all major industries globally. To learn more,visit http://www.darktrace.com. ----
[1] Darktrace wins two Globeeawards for excellent customer service [PressRelease] [MW1]shouldthis be 'of'
About Darktrace
