Phishing attacks dominated threat landscape in 2021

Cyber security company Proofpoint released its annual “State of the Phish” report earlier this week, revealing the impact of phishing attacks in 2021.

According to its findings, 91% of UK companies surveyed experienced at least one successful email-based phishing attack last year – with 84% reporting email-based ransomware attacks. Almost 60% of those infected with ransomware paid a ransom.

Ransomware is the biggest cyber threat facing UK organisations, both large and small, and phishing is a common vector for cyber criminals to infect networks.

This year’s State of the Phish report examines responses from commissioned surveys of 600 information and IT security professionals and 3,500 workers in the U.S., Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, and the UK. The report also analyses data from nearly 100 million simulated phishing attacks sent by Proofpoint customers to their employees over a one-year period, along with more than 15 million emails reported via the user-activated PhishAlarm reporting button.

To download the State of the Phish 2022 report, and see a full list of global and regional comparisons, please visit: https://www.proofpoint.com/uk/resources/threat-reports/state-of-phish.