92% of enterprises experienced an email security incident last year

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July 20, 2022

Ninety-two percent of security leaders report that their organization experienced an email-related security incident within the last year. From phishing attacks to business email compromise (BEC), email represents a wide attack vector for threat actors.

A report by Abnormal Security and conducted by AimPoint Group surveyed 300 security leaders about their organization's email security posture. The 2022 Email Security Trends Report found that while 93% of organizations have adopted a cloud email program, 79% believe that their cloud email software's native security initiatives are insufficient for protecting their enterprise from threats.

Cyber threats to email networks

Within the past year, 25% of respondents' organizations suffered 11 or more security incidents caused by email-borne cyber threats, according to the report.

Security leaders ranked their top concerns in relation to email security. Malicious attachments, email-delivered ransomware, and credential phishing ranked in the top three, respectively, followed by malicious URLs, BEC, and supply chain compromise.

Business email cybersecurity tactics

When it comes to how security leaders protect their business from email threats, organizations reported using a myriad of security techniques. Despite the survey's findings that nearly 80% of organizations find native email security measures inadequate, 63% of security leaders report using those native security functions. However, they may be used in concert with other tools: 60% of security leaders report using secure email gates (SEG), and 50% of organizations have adopted integrated cloud email security (ICES) tools, according to the report.

For more report insights, click here.

Madeline Lauver joined Security magazine in 2021 as its Assistant Editor. She covers news affecting enterprise security leaders, including physical security, cybersecurity, leadership and management, risk and resilience and more. Within her role at Security, Lauver focuses on news articles, Web Exclusives, features, and several departments for Security’s monthly digital edition, as well as managing social media and multimedia content. Lauver graduated in 2019 with a BA in English, German and Media Studies from Kalamazoo College.

Ransomware and the propulsion of the extortion economy has rapidly eclipsed into a national priority. Recently, we observed the catastrophic impact of a widescale ransomware attack impacting gas pipelines and raising national gas prices overnight.