Many workers are overconfident at spotting phishing attacks

Date:
Mon, 17 Mar 2025 10:16:53 +0000

Description:
Experts warn overconfidence creates a false sense of security and opens the doors to cyberattacks.

FULL STORY ======================================================================KnowBe4 surveyed employees around the world to gauge their confidence in spotting phishing Many confident people have also fallen victim in the past Education and transparency are key to combating phishing, researchers said

Despite being confident in their ability to spot phishing, many employees still fall for such scams, new research has claimed.

A report from KnowBe4 warns about misplaced confidence which can cause even more problems for businesses, showing almost all (86%) of respondents believe they can confidently identify phishing emails .

Yet more than half (53%) fell victim to some form of social engineering
scams: 24% fell for a phishing attack, 17% were tricked by a social media scam, and 12% were tricked by a deepfake scam. High confidence often leads to victimization

Employees in South Africa lead the way in both the highest confidence levels and highest scam victimization rate (68%), KnowBe4 explains, hinting that misplace confidence can create a false sense of security.

At the other end of the spectrum are UK employees, who reported the lowest scam victim rate (43%). However, this figure too is down 5% compared to 2021, indicating that vulnerability is rising even in regions with historically
high confidence levels.

Training is paramount to combating phishing and social engineering, KnowBe4 says, adding that fostering a transparent security culture is equally important. While more than half (56%) of employees feel very comfortable reporting security concerns, 1 in 10 still hesitate, either out of fear, or uncertainty.

The Dunning-Kruger effect, which is a cognitive bias where people
overestimate their ability, is alive and well in cybersecurity, commented
Anna Collard, SVP Content Strategy & Evangelist at KnowBe4.

This overconfidence fosters a dangerous blind spot - employees assume they
are scam-savvy when, in reality, cybercriminals can exploit more than 30 susceptibility factors, including psychological and cognitive biases, situational awareness gaps, behavioral tendencies, and even demographic traits. You might also like A flaw in Google OAuth system is exposing
millions of users via abandoned accounts We've rounded up the best password managers Take a look at our guide to the best authenticator app



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/many-workers-are-overconfident-at-spott ing-phishing-attacks


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