Remote and hybrid working makes preventing phishing harder

A new survey from Egress of 500 IT leaders and 3,000 employees across the US and UK finds that 73 percent of organizations have suffered data breaches caused by phishing attacks in the last year.

In addition 53 percent of IT leaders report an increase in incidents caused by phishing since the widespread adoption of remote working. There are also concerns over future hybrid working, with 50 percent of IT leaders saying it will make it harder to prevent breaches caused by malicious email attacks.

Egress VP of threat intelligence Jack Chapman says, "Organizations are being bombarded by sophisticated phishing attacks. Hackers are crafting highly targeted campaigns that use clever social engineering tricks to gain access to organizations' most sensitive data, as well as leapfrog into their supply chain. Phishing is also the most common entry point for ransomware, with potentially devastating consequences."

The findings also highlights the human cost of phishing as they show that in almost a quarter (23 percent) of organizations, employees who were hacked via a phishing email left the organizations -- either voluntarily or involuntarily.

"Remote working has also made employees even more vulnerable," adds Chapman. "With many organizations planning for a remote or hybrid future, phishing is a risk that must remain central to any security team's plans for securing their workforce."

The full report is available from the Egress site.

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