1 in 4 Employees Loses their job after Compromising their company’s Security

31st March 2022

Cybersecurity mistakes - 1 in 4 Employees Loose their job after Compromising their company’s Security

Everybody makes mistakes. However, when it comes to mistakes made at work, it becomes a whole different story, especially if your job has anything to do with cybersecurity.  
 
An email security company Tessian has recently published research claiming that over the last year 26% of employees, or 1 in 4 workers, have lost their job after compromising their company’s security.

What are the biggest Cybersecurity Mistakes? 

Phishing scams remain the big issue 
 
Tessian has found that phishing emails are still the most predominant threat to businesses. As they become more advanced, more people fall victims to phishing scams. You can read more about the dangers of phishing emails in our blog. 
 
Sending a wrong email is costly 
 
According to the research, 40% of employees (that is a 20% increase since 2020) have sent an email to the wrong person, with almost one third saying their company has lost a client because of this error. After that, one in four employees has lost a job because of such a mistake. 

“It’s surprising to see how many more businesses are losing customers over mistakes like employees sending emails to the wrong recipient and also how many more employees are losing their jobs because of these errors,” said Josh Yavor, the Chief Information Security Officer at Tessian.

About one-third of respondents have also had to report data loss due to the wrong email sent to their clients breaking the valuable trust they built over time. 

“The consequences of accidental data loss are certainly becoming harsher, and businesses are becoming less forgiving for mistakes that turn into serious data breaches,” added Josh Yavor.

Why are people making these security mistakes? 

When employees were asked why these mistakes happened, half of the respondents said they sent emails to the wrong person because they felt “under pressure to send the email quickly”, with over 40% attributing distraction and fatigue as the main reasons for falling for phishing attacks. 
 
The more common hybrid working environment is significantly impacting employees’ abilities to stay focused at work. 

What can you do to prevent such security mistakes in your workplace?

It is essential to take steps to mitigate the impact of stress on cybersecurity behaviours when employees work remotely or in a hybrid working environment.  
 
1. Encourage Breaks 
 
By encouraging employees to take regular breaks and introducing 'no-video meeting' days, you can minimize cognitive overload caused by what is known as “Zoom fatigue”. 
 
2. Educate your employees on security threats 
 
By educating employees on advanced hacking techniques - such as business email compromise and account takeover - they will be more confident in spotting and reporting attacks. Employees in highly regulated fields like finance, operations, and legal have to adhere to strict data regulations daily, which means security risks are always at the top of their minds. However, it is important to remember that all your staff are at risk. 

Get in touch with RiskXchange to find out how you can better protect your valuable data and mitigate cyber risks in the work environment.