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News & Views

Over half send emails to wrong person
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In response to the latest Data Breach Incident Report from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the latest straw poll from Egress (www.egress.com) shows misdirected emails are a bigger security threat than phishing attacks and now account for 20% more reported incidents.

The poll commissioned by Egress and run by CitizenMe found that almost two-thirds (64.5%) of respondents admitted to sending emails to the wrong recipients, with everything from confidential figures to court documents going astray.

In addition, 68% of UK respondents and 61% of US respondents admitted to sending work emails to the wrong recipient, with anecdotal comments from those who admitted to doing so showing that they hadn’t reported the incident to their line managers.

“The ICO report and the results of our quick poll show that this is really just the tip of the iceberg,” says Egress.  “Most email data breaches go unreported, so it’s difficult for CISOs and their security teams to fully grasp and tackle this problem.  What’s more, with 60% of the UK’s workforce now working remotely, we’ve seen a 23% increase in email usage due to the pandemic.  Imagine what the true cost of misdirected emails would be if all were reported as data breaches?”

“In this elevated risk environment, where misdirected emails can have devastating repercussions if personal or corporate data is exposed,” continues Egress.  “It is paramount that organizations provide staff with technology that stops outbound emails going to unintended recipients.”

Post Covid-19 it remains to be seen what the new normal will look like, but with remote working seemingly here to stay and email remaining the most common business communication tool, intelligent email security that prevents breaches and protected data must become a central part of organizations’ digital transformation stories

 

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