Business View Magazine | August 2019

9 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE AUGUST 2019 STUDY INDICATES EMAIL ATTACKS ARE HAVING A MAJOR IMPACT ON BUSINESSES B arracuda, a trusted partner and leading provider of cloud-enabled security solutions, recently released key findings from a report with the title “2019 Email Security Trends.” Commissioned by Barracuda, the research surveyed global IT stakeholders to capture their experiences and attitudes about the current state of email security. The survey includes responses from 660 executives, individual contributors and team managers serving in IT-security roles in the Americas, EMEA, and APAC. Companies surveyed include small, mid-sized, and enterprise businesses in technology, financial services, education, healthcare, manufacturing, government, telecommunication, retail, and other industries. A wide range of questions captured hard data about phishing, insider threats and Office 365, as well as the related business impacts, security spending and costs of breaches. Overall, the study indicates that while most IT professionals are more confident about their email security systems than they were a year ago, email attacks continue to have a significant impact on businesses. Highlights include: • Email attacks are having a direct business impact — and impacting the personal lives of IT security professionals • 74% of respondents said that email attacks are having a major impact on their businesses. • The most common effects cited were loss of employee productivity, downtime and business disruption, and damage to the reputation of the IT team. • Nearly three-quarters of respondents reported experiencing higher stress levels, worrying about potential email security even when they’re not at work, and being forced to work nights and weekends to address email security issues. OPENING L INES