Six per cent confess to violating organisational data security policies each month
Five out of every 1,000 employees in Australia are clicking on a phishing link monthly, according to a new report, which highlighted the prevailing and emerging cybersecurity threats in the country.
Netskope's Threat Labs Report found that the rate of Australians clicking on a phishing link is higher than the global average of 2.9 per 1,000 employees.
"The victims click on links in various places, including email, messaging apps, social media, ads, and search engine results," the report read. "Among the most common phishing targets are cloud accounts, which attackers seek to leverage for data theft, to sell on illicit marketplaces, or to leverage for additional attacks."
Not only this, but about one per cent of Australian workers are getting blocked after attempting to access malicious content on the web or in the cloud, according to the report.
"The malicious content takes multiple forms, including malicious JavaScript content that the browser executes and malware downloads that infect the host OS," the report read.
To address these risks, organisations across Australia are implementing measures to protect employees' data, including data loss prevention to help control the flow of sensitive data, as cited by 80% of Australian organisations.
Despite this, around six per cent of Australians confessed to violating organisational data security policies each month, with most common breaches involving uploads of various types of data to unauthorised locations.
"The three most common data types involved in data policy violations are regulated data, intellectual property, and passwords and keys. Types of regulated data include personal, financial, and healthcare information," the report read.
Meanwhile, the report also revealed the risks associated with the widespread implementation of generative AI tools in the workplace.
It found that the share of organisations in Australia that are now using AI has risen to 93%, up from 75% a year ago.
But as aggressive as the GenAI implementation in workplaces, the report also found that employers are just as aggressive in blocking unnecessary GenAI apps to protect data.
According to the report, 98% of organisations have controls in place to limit the use of GenAI apps. In fact, Australian firms block 2.3 GenAI apps per month on average, with the top organisations blocking more than 50 apps per month.
"The most blocked apps belong to multiple categories, including writing assistants, chatbots, image generators, and audio generators, bearing many similarities with global trends," the report read.
