Unfortunately, email spam has become way out of hand. Most email is nothing more than a nuisance (and no, we don’t mean your boss scheduling yet another meeting) as spam. An incredible 85% of all email that’s currently being sent is spam! What’s worse is that many of the unwanted emails are now escalating to full-fledged phishing schemes, trying to get the unsuspecting reader to click on malicious links. Email security is needed for the modern workplace.
The Costs of Phishing
There is a significant cost to phishing. First, it’s often the first step to a more sophisticated attack, as it could be just the start of a ransomware attack. There are currently 184 million ransomware attacks per year, and that number is rising. Cybercrimes end up costing small businesses $200,000 on average and 83 hours of IT time to uncover malicious emails. And it isn’t just time spent on your tech workers – the average person spends 28% of their day both screening and filtering their emails.
While phishing seems like it may be easy to overlook, it a significant cybersecurity danger to your business, as the average computer user does not know how to identify a phishing attack before it is too late. Nearly 20% of employees end up clicking on phishing links when it is all said and done. One out of every 25 branded emails end up being phishing attacks, taking advantage of a trusted brand you’re likely to click on without giving it much thought. Once you’ve been infected through phishing, there is little recourse. Only 3 in 100,000 cybercrimes are actually prosecuted, and 1 in 3 people don’t know how to secure their data.
What can you do to stay secure? Here are some tips:
- Establish a an employee training system
- Verify all invoices and payments
- Keep an eye out for discrepancies
- Invest in email security programs
Learn more about keeping your workforce safe from email phishing through the visual deep dive below.