Email-Based Threats Increase 64% as Attacks Grow in Sophistication and Volume

New data from Mimecast shows how email-based threats are not only the greatest perceived concern, but are proving to be the reason for increased experienced attacks.

In Mimecast’s new State of Email Security Report, organizations were asked about their preparation, challenges, and results of implementing email security. According to the report, concern for email-borne threats is up across the board, with organizations largely finding themselves unprepared:

• Sophistication of attacks was the biggest email security challenge for 60% of organizations
• The growing volume of attacks was among the top email security challenges for 52% of organizations

Mimecast found that these concerns proved to be valid over the last year:

• Email threats rose by 64% between 2019 and 2020
• 79% of companies were hurt by their lack of cyber preparedness
• 6 out of 10 companies experienced a ransomware attack
• 34% of those attacked by ransomware failed to get their data back

What’s interesting is that users continually come up as one of the critical issues:

• 43% of organizations globally said that “employee naiveté about cybersecurity” is one of their greatest vulnerabilities
• 70% respondents believe that employee behaviors such as poor password hygiene are putting their companies at risk

It’s evident that despite having email security solutions in place, it’s necessary to empower users through Security Awareness Training. Having a sense of cyber vigilance, practicing good cyber hygiene and remaining watchful for potentially malicious email content is imperative in order to stay secure.