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       WHEN on the Internet, computers get hacked, people make mistakes and they break the rules. This leads to security breaches that harm both the employee and the organisation.

       Egress Software in its latest research report believes employees are the greatest defence, but can also be the most vulnerable aspect.

       The less prepared they are, the worse the risk. Every day, risks are created as they are targets of phishing and hacking attacks. Hence, providing the right training to employees is key to minimising security breaches.

       A breach can be as simple as misdirecting sensitive emails, breaking rules and stealing information. About 97% of insiders in an organisation say they will report a breach and 94% of organisations have had a data breach in the past one year. About 84% suffered a breach from human effort.

       IT leaders made up 500 respondents, totalling 3,500 employees surveyed in Britain and the United States for the report.

       More than half the IT leaders believe human error data breaches increased due to remote working during the pandemic, and 65% think employees falling for phishing attacks increased.

       More than half of IT leaders depend on employees to report a breach, but 85% of incidents led to repercussions for the employees involved. About 72% of insiders say a person should not be allowed to take data with them to a new job.

       It was also much harder to spot phishing attacks on mobiles, and far easier to make “fat-fingered” mistakes on smaller screens.