Fortinet Report Finds Nearly 70% of Organizations Say Their Employees Lack Fundamental Security Awareness

Fortinet, Inc.
Fortinet, Inc.
Fortinet, Inc.
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SUNNYVALE, Calif., Oct. 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

John Maddison, Chief Marketing Officer at Fortinet
“As threat actors harness new technologies like AI to augment the sophistication of their attacks, it’s increasingly crucial that employees serve as a robust first line of defense. Fortinet’s new research underscores the importance of creating a culture of cybersecurity and the need to deploy organization-wide security awareness and training. These findings reinforce the importance of our award-winning Security Awareness and Training service for enterprises, including the free educational version available at no cost to primary and secondary schools around the world, and its role in strengthening cyber resilience.”

News Summary
Fortinet? (NASDAQ: FTNT), the global cybersecurity leader driving the convergence of networking and security, today released its annual 2024 Security Awareness and Training Global Research Report, highlighting the crucial role a cyber-aware workforce plays in managing and mitigating organizational risk.

Key findings from the global report include:

  • As malicious actors use AI to increase the volume and velocity of their attacks, leaders believe these threats will be harder for their employees to spot. More than 60% of respondents expect more employees to fall victim to attacks in which cybercriminals use AI. However, the good news is that most respondents (80%) also say enterprise-wide knowledge of AI-augmented attacks has made their organizations more open to implementing security awareness and training.

  • Employees can be an organization’s first line of defense, but leaders are increasingly worried that their employees lack security awareness. Nearly 70% of those surveyed believe their employees lack critical cybersecurity knowledge, up from 56% in 2023.

  • Leaders recognize the importance of security awareness training but believe specific attributes make some training programs more effective than others. Three-quarters of leaders say they plan their security awareness campaigns, delivering content monthly (34%) or quarterly (47%). Executives also point to high-quality content playing a leading role in the success or failure of the program.

The Latest Threats That Employees Must Battle
One prominent way cybercriminals use AI is to make phishing schemes more believable and harder to detect. Because phishing targets individual users directly, organizations are heavily focused on teaching employees how to recognize and avoid falling victim to these attacks.

  • End-users remain attractive targets. More than 80% of organizations faced attacks last year, such as malware, phishing, and password attacks that directly targeted individuals.

  • As attacks evolve, security awareness and training will only become more vital. Nearly all (96%) of those surveyed say their leadership team supports employee security awareness training.

  • Nearly all respondents (98%) say phishing prevention is a component of their training programs and plans. Other top training priorities include data security (48%) and privacy (41%).

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