Email security provider Tessian teamed up with academics from Stanford University to observe the cyber security impacts of hybrid working. The research found that business email compromise (BEC) attacks have become increasingly successful, with more than half of employees (52%) falling victim to a spear phishing email where a cybercriminal impersonated a senior executive, up from 41% in 2020.
People were also susceptible to phishing attacks over SMS (smishing), with one-third of respondents being duped by a smishing request in the last 12 months, compared to 26% of those who fell for phishing scams over email. Older employees were more susceptible to smishing attacks; one-third of respondents aged over 55 complied with requests in smishing scam versus 24% of 18 to 24 year olds.
