New research from OpenText Security Solutions has revealed that just under half of UK employees (42%) are unable to identify scam emails.
The firm conducted the survey in response to common scams circulating in the UK to better understand employee awareness of online security threats, popular attack methods and scam emails.
Findings come at a time of increased cyber-criminal activity, particularly with the advent of Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine, with the average business targeted 28 times by cyber threats in the past year.
Additionally, with around 44% of large firms suffering network downtime lasting longer than one day due to phishing attacks, evidence suggested that businesses should ensure staff are educated on risky IT behaviours that can lead to security compromises.
The survey also revealed that many employees are unaware of common terms related to cyber threats, with 50% revealing they had never heard of the term DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) and 60% had no knowledge of BEC (business email compromise).
According to OpenText Security, this demonstrates a clear need for organisations to “cut the jargon” when it comes to educating employees on cybersecurity.
Commenting on the statistics, Matt Aldridge, Principal BrightCloud Threat Intelligence Solutions Consultant at OpenText Security Solutions, said: “Security awareness is critically important for all organisations, as the employee is always the first line of…
