Training Employees in Identifying Phishing Emails is Key to Prevent Cyber Attacks: Report

Training employees in identifying phishing emails and using ‘machine intelligence’ to spot the threat beforehand could be the perfect medicine for dealing with the growing number of cyberattacks in corporate firms, according to a study by Tessian.

In its survey of 2,000 people in the US and the UK, one in four employees (25%) said they had clicked on a phishing email at work. Nearly 50% of respondents blamed their mistake on stress, with around 42% citing ‘distraction’ as the top reason for clicking.

Employees working from home are more vulnerable to distraction, says the report, adding that a large majority of data breaches, almost 88%, are caused by human error.

The sudden shift to remote-working could open up businesses to greater risks, because, in the survey, 57% of workers have admitted that they’re more distracted when working from home.

Interestingly, employees in the technology industry are more likely to catch the bait, with nearly half of respondents in this sector (47%) admitting they had clicked on links in phishing emails. This was closely followed by employees in banking and finance (45%).

“Other reasons for clicking on phishing emails included the perceived legitimacy of the email (43%) and the fact that it appeared to have come from either a senior executive (41%) or a well-known brand (40%),” the report added.