Security Threat Insights Report: March 2025

In Q4 2024, archives were the second most popular malware delivery file type with 32% of threats

Malicious PDF documents were the third most popular threat file type isolated by HP Sure Click in Q4 2024

11% of email threats evaded gateway security in Q4 2024

The popularity of executables and scripts as a malware delivery type saw a 3% point rise over Q3 2024

More than half (53%) of threats targeting endpoints were delivered by email in Q4 2024

Threats delivered in PDF documents accounted for 10% in Q4 2024

In Q4 2024, executables and scripts retained first place as the most popular malware delivery type with 43% of threats caught by HP Sure Click

In Q4 2024, HP threat researchers saw a growth in social engineering campaigns that rely on fake CAPTCHA challenges to infect users with malware

8% of threats relied on documents such as Microsoft Word formats (e.g. DOC, DOCX) in Q4 2024

Malicious spreadsheets (e.g. XLS, XLSX) totalled 3% of threats in Q4 2024

10% of threats were PDF files in Q4 2024