Cloudflare has published its 2025 year-in-review report showing that a share of global email traffic carries harmful intent.
The company’s report found that about 5.6% of all emails sent over the past year contained malicious content, roughly 1 in 20 messages.
In November, nearly 1 in 10 emails contained harmful material, almost double the yearly average. Cloudflare said this spike shows how quickly online threats can grow.
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The company describes malicious emails as messages intended to steal information, money, or account access. Many of them look like normal communication but include hidden traps, such as fake login pages or attachments designed to collect personal data.
Around 52% of harmful messages contained a misleading link that could trick recipients into revealing sensitive details. Another 38% relied on impersonation.
People involved in cryptocurrency are a frequent target. Cloudflare noted that phishing attacks against crypto traders and investors have become more common and more advanced.
Once a user clicks a fake link or transfers funds to a scam address, the loss is usually permanent, as cryptocurrency transactions cannot be reversed.
The report also examined domain names commonly used in these attacks. The top-level domain “.christmas” was the most abused, with over 92% of its email traffic marked as malicious and about 7% labeled as spam.
Other domains commonly linked to harmful activity included “.lol”, “.forum”, “.help”, “.best”, and “.click”.
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