As cybersecurity professionals work to defend organizations from threats, varied attack methods grow in significance.

Quarantined email threats increased by 12.5% in 2021 compared to the previous year, according to the newly released Global Threat Report from Zix. Here's what enterprise security professionals need to know about this cyber threat:

• Malware attachments are on the rise: Emails containing malware attachments increased over 2021, peaking at over 25 million sent in November. Attachments delivering malware increased steadily from July to November 2021.
• U.S. named top origin of email threats: Over 50 million emails containing malware attachments were identified as originating in the United States in 2021, according to the report. In second place was China, with over 10 million threats identified, followed by the Netherlands, with just under 10 million email threats originating from the country.
• .XLS files were the most common virus file type: When it came to the type of file containing malware, .XLS files were seen the most often by the report, followed by .HTM and .ZIP files.

Staying ahead of business email compromise is paramount to maintaining a secure enterprise cyber defense strategy. Read more findings from the Global Threat Report here.