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

ATLANTA, Oct. 20, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Cybersecurity issues are making headlines with the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack and Twitch data breaches as just two recent examples. The threats making the news are not happening in a vacuum and are causing great concern among IT professionals, according to a recent IRONSCALES survey. In fact, according to the research, email phishing is the top concern of 90% of IT professionals.

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://ironscales.com/blog/ironscales-releases-findings-from-state-of-cybersecurity-survey/.

About IRONSCALES
IRONSCALES is a best-in-class email security company focused on fighting back against today's modern phishing attacks. Our self-learning, AI-driven platform continuously detects and remediates advanced threats like Business Email Compromise (BEC), credential harvesting, Account Takeover (ATO) and more. Our powerfully simple email security solution is fast to deploy, easy to manage and keeps our customers safe. Founded in Tel Aviv, Israel in 2014 by alumni of the Israel Defense Force's elite Intelligence Technology unit. IRONSCALES is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. We are proud to support thousands of customers globally with our award-winning, analyst-recognized platform. Visit http://www.ironscales.com to learn more.

Media Contact

Jenna Knoblauch, IRONSCALES, +1 612-709-3890, [email protected]

SOURCE IRONSCALES