Email Overload Creating Cyber Complacency in Australia
23 Oct 2024
Australians send and receive 8.1 billion emails each day.
That makes us the 10th most prolific emailers in the world. And that’s a problem.
It’s not just the inbox clutter we’re experiencing (or perhaps, contributing to). It’s the cyber security complacency it’s creating.
You see, email continues to represent the single biggest threat to your organisation’s cyber security. The more emails we receive, the greater the risk that a cybercriminal will gain access to your organisation’s data and secrets.
Proven Danger
Real world tests have proven that the threat posed by Australians’ “email encumbrance” is real.
Proofpoint conducted 183 million phishing simulations earlier this year. They observed that almost one in six recipients of a suspicious phishing email failed to protect their organisation’s valuable data. Recipients variously clicked malicious links, succumbed to a bogus password reset, or downloaded ransomware.
What leads employees to fall for phishing and malware…? It’s “breach fatigue” – employees who have become complacent and careless about cybersecurity.
Cyber Complacency
Professor Sanjay Jha, UNSW Lead of the Cybersecurity Cooperative Research Centre, said:
“It’s human nature that you start to just get used to certain things. (But) phishing attacks continue. In fact they are getting ever more innovative.”
He urged companies to do more to keep personal data safe from hackers.
“The problem is that ICT systems are very complex and every day new applications are deployed, and new information is stored and exchanged.”
Whole-of-Enterprise Email Protection
With escalating email volumes creating a high and persistent risk of cyber incursion, organisations need a systematic way for employees to securely and reliably exchange files and emails with external third parties. Thankfully, there are technical safeguards you can put in place to prevent your employees from accidentally - or negligently, or maliciously - allowing cyber criminals in.
Not only will they help protect your organisation from cyber criminals, as a bonus, they’ll also improve your employees’ efficiency.
Our SFT Threat Protection Bundle enables your organisation’s email system to automatically detect and prevent phishing links and other malware from entering your organisation. Better still, it can also automatically detect and prevent employees from sharing malware or sensitive information.
Active Threat Protection
If an employee - knowingly or unknowingly - attempts to share a file containing malware, the files are intercepted and “sanitised”. That is to say: their malicious elements are automatically removed.
The SFT Threat Protection Bundle can also go a step further and automatically detect and prevent employees from sharing sensitive information.
For example, let’s say a folder has Word or PDF documents, or Jpeg images, which contain Personally Identifiable Information. If an employee attempts to transmit any of these files, a secure ICAP gateway will automatically inspect and block the transfer.
Or if you prefer, the gateway can be configured to automatically redact (i.e. mask out) sensitive information from documents and image files while still permitting the remainder of the file to be shared.
Free Demonstration
If you’d like to see first-hand how our SFT Threat Protection Bundle can help keep your organisation’s data safe, and help beleaguered employees keep their guards up, why not get in touch and have an obligation-free chat with me?
At Generic Systems Australia, we’re your local experts in secure managed file transfer.
PS: In the three minutes it took you to read this article, almost a billion new emails were sent around the world - many of them to and from Australians!