The U.S. financial industry was the industry by far most targeted by phishing attacks around the world in 2008, according to a new report by RSA .

U.S. financial institutions accounted for a massive 68% of all phishing attacks against the world's financial institutions.

Overall, the volume of phishing attacks against all industries surged 66% around the world over those observed throughout 2007.

The first six months of 2008 demonstrated a dramatic increase in the volume of phishing attacks detected by RSA, peaking in April with 15,002 attempts.

Although the U.S led by a huge margin in terms of the number of attacked brands during 2008, the UK led in terms of total volume of attacks. This is a result of several massive surges of attacks against a small number of the country's financial institutions during 2008, according to RSA.

The U.S. hosted the largest number of attacks (60% of all assaults), followed by Germany and South Korea, who tied in second place, and the UK and China, coming in third.

Meanwhile, RSA also noted the expansion of phishing attacks into new territories, such as the Asia-Pacific region and South and Central America.