The ongoing epidemic of these attacks has been carried out by the “Backoff” malware, which latches onto point of sale systems, records card transaction swipes, and sends the information back to the pirates, who will then be able to resell the stolen data. The latest strand of the malware has been active since October, and was discovered only in recent weeks, with thousands of businesses completely unaware of the presence of the malware within their systems.

The SOS report shows the numbers of thefts, robberies and grand larcenies for iPhones, diving exponentially, since the introduction of the kill switch, while the statistics in regard to crimes perpetrated against Android users, and Samsung users in particular, have skyrocketed.

While the latest versions of Outlook provide protection against these attacks, older systems are still defenseless. Here is what you can do to curb this serious email security risk.