It doesn’t look like phishing scams are going to be any less of a problem in 2025, with a study from Tech.co finding that an alarming 98% of senior leaders in the US are unable to correctly identify all indicators of a phishing email.
Personal data seems to be under constant threat when it comes to the online world. Security breaches and ransomware attacks have become empowered by new AI technology, and it seems like a new scam is always right around the corner.
Even worse, business owners don’t seem to be taking the threat seriously, with a shockingly low number able to recognize the most obvious of signals of risk.
Few Senior Leaders Can Recognize Phishing Emails
In our latest research, we found that only 1.6% of senior leaders were able to correctly identify all of the clear indicators of phishing emails, which certainly doesn’t bode well for the future of cybersecurity protections in the business world.
It’s not like phishing scams aren’t a problem for businesses in 2025, either. In fact, our data found that of all the businesses surveyed that had been breached, 40% of them were due to some kind of phishing attack. This was the second most common cause, behind only computer viruses (53%).
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The Impact of Technology on the Workplace report from Tech.co is an annual study that gauges growing and waning trends on the business world. We surveyed 1,036 senior executives and workplace managers across a range of industries to get a feel for our things like cybersecurity can affect day-to-day operations. Unfortunately, some of those statistics paint a bleak picture for how well senior leaders are prepared when it comes to data protection.
Senior Leaders Are Falling Behind on Cybersecurity
Bad security continues to cost businesses millions, with breaches leading to everything from lost revenue to tarnished reputations. This means that making security a priority needs to come from the top. Unfortunately, those at the top have demonstrated a severe lack of knowledge based on our latest research.
For example, our survey discovered than nearly one fifth (19%) of senior leaders can’t define what multi-factor authentication is, widely considered one of the most effective security measures to keep data safe.
Suffice to say, senior leaders need to educate themselves on security before they can hope to protect sensitive company information, but they can’t go it alone. Implementing staff education on security measures will be just as integral, particularly with technology advancing at such a high rate.
AI Can be a Huge Security Risk
While you might have assumed that AI would help business bolster security measures to better protect customer and employee data, the reality is that hackers have taken far more advantage of the technology. And with senior leaders continue to lag on adapting to new trends, it’s only going to get worse.
In fact, we found that 35% of businesses have no security policy whatsoever in regard to how employees interact with AI chatbots. Given that they’ve been shown to be serious security risks, that could put many businesses in danger.
If business owners aren’t careful, this negligence could spread to their staff. Considering 33% of businesses don’t offer any kind of AI-related training, it’s safe to assume it’s already begun.
The revelation about phishing scams is just one of the findings of our recently published ‘Impact of Tech on the Workplace’ report, which covers wide ranging topics from how companies use AI (and whether or not it’s a threat to job security), the rise of the 4-day week, whether or not remote work will last, workers rights to disconnect when they’re on vacation, and much more.
The 46 page report is jammed with our latest findings, and it’s yours to download for free. If you want to learn more about cybersecurity and everything else related to tech at work, hit the button below.
