A Mimecast study reported that since January there has been 67 percent increase in incidents designed to instigate fraudulent payments and a 43 percent uptick in those looking to obtain human resources or tax information. "To be honest we're seeing both types of whaling on the rise. There is evidence to suggest the cyber criminals are using malware resident on the machine, such as Dridex, to give them enough intelligence on a target to help them decide what type of attack to carry out," Mimecast Cybersecurity Strategist Orlando Scott-Cowley told SCMagazine in an email. "So an HR user might be targeted with a W-2 style attack, whereas as a finance user would be stung with financial fraud. Then again domestic or low-value targets might just be sent a crypto malware instead, so as to extort a few hundred Bitcoin from them."