Leading research firm Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) and email security company Armorblox released the results of a research survey of 490 IT and security professionals with a focus on the challenges organizations face in securing the abundance of communication and collaboration tools used today.
Results of the study showed that the majority of organizations use six or more communication tools, across channels, with email remaining the channel seen as the most vulnerable to attacks (38%).
Even though email has advanced over time, it still has significant weaknesses in terms of security. According to 38% of survey respondents, email is considered the most vulnerable channel for threat actors. This notes the substantial risk associated with email communication and the constant vulnerabilities of outdated security tools against advanced threats.
Key findings of the survey:
- 39% of respondents stated spam/malware and 34% of respondents stated phishing/spear phishing/malicious links evaded security controls
- 27% of respondents stated misaddressed emails slipped past native security layers
- 26% of respondents indicated threats that penetrated security controls included wire transfer fraud, payroll fraud, payment fraud, other BEC attacks
- 23% of respondents stated internal account compromise/takeover was the result of threats bypassing legacy layers
- 23% of respondents indicated threats resulted in unintentional sensitive data leakage
For the full analysis on challenges organizations face in security communication channels, download the ESG report here.