IRONSCALES Releases State of Cybersecurity Survey, Cites Email Phishing as Biggest Security Threat To Businesses

In addition to damaging reputations, cyber threats take a toll on productivity. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly one third of IT teams spend all of their time remedying phishing attacks, and 74 percent spend more than 30 minutes addressing each attack, according to the research.

IRONSCALES, the fastest growing email security provider in the world, released the results of its survey today. Conducted last month, the IRONSCALES State of Cybersecurity Survey polled more than 400 U.S. IT professionals for their insights on the impact of cyber threats to their organizations. The survey also looked at how organizations are addressing these challenges, especially against the backdrop of COVID and the move to remote-work environments.

The last 18 months have been detrimental to many organizations from a security perspective, according to the respondents. More than eight out of 10 (84%) agree that working from home has made their employees more complacent about cybersecurity prevention.

Only one percent of respondents strongly disagreed with this statement.

The collective move to workforce messaging platforms – such as Slack, Microsoft Teams and GroupMe also is providing cybercriminals with additional channels to use as they attack organizations. One–third of the surveyed IT professionals experienced an uptick in other messaging-related cyber-attacks in recent months.

And, if video killed the radio star, it also may be killing security protocols with 44% of respondents experiencing phishing attacks via video conferencing platforms.

“With all of the upside from hybrid and work-from-anywhere environments, including convenience and productivity, cybercriminals have used this transformational moment in business for their benefit,” said Eyal Benishti, founder and CEO of IRONSCALES. “Our survey confirms the increased fear is real and organizations need to up the ante in their security processes and internal training to create a stronger line of defense in protecting their organizations.”

When it comes to training, many companies are not keeping up with the attacks. Almost 20 percent of respondents say their organizations only provide cybersecurity awareness training on an annual basis. A similar percentage (19%) provide this type of training twice a year.

Here’s a complete breakdown on frequency of cybersecurity awareness training in the respondents’ respective organizations:

32% - quarterly
23% - monthly
19% - twice a year
19% - annually
7% - weekly

Survey respondents represented various business sectors, including retail, financial services, education, manufacturing, government, healthcare, technology and other industries. To see additional findings from the IRONSCALES survey, visit https://blog.ironscales.com/ironscales-releases-findings-from-state-of-cybersecurity-survey/.

About IRONSCALES

IRONSCALES is the leader in AI-powered email security protecting over 13,000 global organizations from advanced phishing threats. As the pioneer of adaptive AI, we detect and remediate attacks like business email compromise (BEC), account takeovers (ATO), and zero-days that other solutions miss. By combining the power of AI and continuous human insights, we safeguard inboxes, unburden IT teams, and turn employees into a vital part of cyber defense across enterprises and managed service providers. IRONSCALES is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. To learn more, visit www.ironscales.com or follow us on X  @IRONSCALES.