UK Employees Could Face Sack For Falling Prey To Phishing Attacks
By a Biometrica staffer
If you are working in the United Kingdom and repeatedly fall for real or simulated phishing attacks at work you are in danger of getting sacked, a report from security firm Proofpoint revealed, according to an article on ITProPortal.
The report found that 27% of UK companies said a lack of cybersecurity awareness and resilience against phishing attacks could lead them to dismiss workers. The report was based on a survey of 600 information security professionals.
Companies are taking this hard stance on phishing ion the basis that, if unchecked, this could lead to more serious breaches and lay the foundation for ransomware attacks.
The volume of firms paying two rounds of ransom demands to hackers increased to 1500% year-on-year (YoY), the research report found. Proofpoint found that 67% of adults are unfamiliar with the concept of ransomware, with 36% defining the term incorrectly. More than half of all employees were also found to have allowed friends and family to access their work-issued devices.
“Threat actors worldwide are continuing to target people with agile, relevant, and sophisticated communications—most notably through the email channel, which remains the top threat vector,” Alan LeFort, SVP and GM of Security Awareness Training at Proofpoint, said. “Ensuring users understand how to spot and report attempted cyberattacks is undeniably business-critical, especially as users continue to work remotely– often in a less secured environment. While many organizations say they are delivering security awareness training to their employees, our data shows most are not doing enough.”