Intelligent Data Centres Issue 28 | Page 15

LATEST INTELLIGENCE

2021 STATE OF THE PHISH

AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT USER AWARENESS , VULNERABILITY AND RESILIENCE

PRESENTED BY i

INTRODUCTION : A YEAR LIKE NO OTHER
There ’ s no question that organisations ( and individuals ) faced many challenges in 2020 , both new and familiar . Information security teams felt the strain , too . On top of “ ordinary ” cybersecurity issues , professionals in these roles dealt with an explosion of pandemic-themed phishing scams and a continued surge in ransomware attacks – all while attempting to transition many users to workfrom-home environments , effectively overnight . Our seventh annual State of the Phish report explores these topics and more . We analyse survey data , simulated phishing exercises and real-world attacks to provide insights into phishing and other cyber threats – and what you can do about them .
“ Phishing ” can mean different things to different people . We use the term in a broad sense to encompass all socially engineered email attacks , regardless of the specific malicious intent ( such as directing users to dangerous websites , distributing malware , collecting credentials and so on ).
SECTION 1
This year ’ s report includes data from the following :
2020 Challenges : An Organisational View
2020 was a banner year for phishing attacks . We saw large volumes of credential phishing emails and social engineering techniques ( some more sophisticated than others ). ◊ www . intelligentdatacentres . com
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