Phishing attacks have affected more companies than ever before last year, and as a result, more attacks have been successful, a new Proofpoint study has found.
Interviewing 600 information and IT security professionals as well as 3,500 workers in the US, Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Spain and the UK, Proofpoint said more than three-quarters (78%) of businesses worldwide have seen email. extortionists last year’s attacks.
At the same time last year, 77% were affected by attacks through the Business Email Compromise (BEC), which is 18% more than in 2020.
Employees are focused
Of all the companies subjected to phishing, 83% had at least one case where the attack was successful (much more than the previous year 57%), which means that criminals have become better at credential theft and identity. Thus, more than two-thirds (68%) were forced to fight at least one extortionist infection.
“So when 2020 taught us about the need to be flexible and responsive to change, in 2021 we learned about the need to better protect ourselves,” said Alan Lefort, senior vice president and general manager of security training at Proofpoint.
“As e-mail remains a favorite method of attack for cybercriminals, creating a culture of security is clearly important. In this evolutionary landscape of threats and when work from anywhere is becoming commonplace, “it is important that organizations empower their people and support their efforts to learn and apply new cyber skills both at work and at home.”
The pandemic seems to have exacerbated an already painful problem. Approximately four out of five (81%) organizations said more than half of their employees are now removed, but only 37% train their employees in the best cybersecurity practices in such settings.
Almost all surveyed employees (97%) have a home Wi-Fi network, but only 60% have it password protected.
These numbers in both attacks and successful invasions are “staggering,” says Adenike Cosgrove, cybersecurity strategist at international firm Proofpoint.