Email security company Tessian reports that more than one in five* (21%) of employees that made cybersecurity mistakes that compromised their company’s security lost their job in the last 12 months, up from just 12% last year.

The second edition of Tessian’s Psychology of Human Error report (available here) reveals that people are falling for more advanced phishing scams – and the business stakes for mistakes are much higher. Here are some other notable stats:

• Just over one in four respondents (26%) fell for a phishing email at work, in the last 12 months .
• Two-fifths (40%) of employees sent an email to the wrong person, with close to one-third (29%) saying their business lost a client or customer because of the error.
• Over one-third (36%) of employees have made a mistake at work that compromised security and fewer are reporting their mistakes to IT.
• Over half of employees (52%) said they fell for a phishing email because the attacker impersonated a senior executive at the company – up from 41% reported in 2020.
• People are falling for new phishing methods too: 56% of people said they received a scam via text message in the last 12 months, one-third of which complied with the request, compared to 26% of employees who fell for email phishing scams.
• In the first nine months of 2021, the number of breaches reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office, caused by data being sent to the wrong person, was 32% higher compared to the same period in 2020.
• 35% of respondents said they had to report data loss incidents to their customers after making a mistake, causing significant damage to trusted relationships built with customers.
• Nearly a third (29%) of respondents said their business lost a client or customer because of sending an email to the wrong person – up from 20% in 2020! Ouch!

No wonder cybersecurity mistakes are costing more jobs than ever! And with 50% of people saying they are more distracted when working from home, it doesn’t sound like it’s going to change anytime soon.

The 24-page PDF report (available here) has many additional stats worth checking out, so consider doing so. It might keep you from making your own cybersecurity mistakes.

So, what do you think?  Have you ever falling victim to a cyberattack? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

*They said “one in four”, but 21% is a bit shy of that, just sayin’… 😉

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