- Report reveals that 98% of security executives consider misdirected emails a major data security risk.
- Misdirected Emails Generated $1.2 Billion in Fines and 27% of GDPR Incidents Last Year
- 97% believe behavioral AI can reduce human errors and improve outbound email security
Cybercriminals and disgruntled employees aren’t the only things businesses have to worry about when it comes to data security, as new research claims that mistakenly sending emails containing sensitive information to the wrong address is also becoming a major problem.
A report from Abnormal AI claims that 98% of security executives consider misdirected emails (as emails sent to the wrong address are apparently called) a “significant risk” compared to malware or insider threats.
Additionally, 96% of surveyed organizations reported experiencing both data loss and exposure to misdirected emails in the past year, while 95% reported “measurable business impact” in terms of remediation costs, compliance violations, and erosion of customer trust.
Measurable impact
This “measurable impact” translates into approximately $1.2 billion in fines worldwide, the report further states. Misdirected emails accounted for more than a quarter (27%) of all data protection incidents under GDPR last year, leading to these heartbreaking fines.
“Businesses have invested heavily in stopping inbound threats like phishing, but outbound emails remain a major vector of human error, one that has historically been overlooked,” commented Mike Britton, CIO at Abnormal AI.
As with any other cybersecurity risk, this too must be mitigated with advanced tools. This doesn’t seem to be the case, however, as nearly half (47%) of security and IT professionals are usually notified of misdirected emails from recipients, rather than through different alerts from their technology stack.
To actually solve the problem, 97% believe behavioral AI can help, as the average business spends more than 400 hours per year dealing with false positives from data loss prevention and email security tools.
“This is an issue of visibility as much as it is a technology issue,” Britton added. “Traditional tools cannot differentiate a legitimate customer email from a sensitive message sent to the wrong recipient. Today, protecting data requires more than defending against external threats: it means understanding and supporting human behavior. Organizations that integrate AI-driven insights with user-centric protections are better positioned to prevent errors from turning into breaches.”
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