How Businesses Prevent Phishing

In 2018, the FBI received nearly 50,000 reports of phishing and compromised email. In summation, this cost a total of $1.8 billion in losses. It’s safe to say phishing isn’t slowing down for anyone. In fact, if anything, the rate of phishing is increasing as more hackers learn to utilize the information. As a result, Internet users are shifting gears toward storing information on clouds rather than on devices themselves. In 2018, 1 in 4 were impacted by the theft of data stored on cloud storage platforms. This year, 4.7 billion phishing emails are reported daily. 

Tech Guru Bill Gates has acknowledged the issue, saying, “Information technology and business are becoming inextricably interwoven. I don’t think anybody can talk meaningfully about one without talking about the other.” As previously mentioned, cloud storages are becoming a popular resource in protecting user data, as well having a major convenience factor. Colleges, startups and established businesses, and some individuals are using these platforms more than ever. Numerically speaking, Office365 had nearly 150 million users in 2018, and Google’s G-Suite - formerly known as Google Apps - had over 1.5 billion users. 

Phishing is transcending into every aspect of Internet use. Consumer information is being hacked, corporations are experiencing data breaches, and phishing has even emerged into the political scene. Continue reading below for a better understanding of how phishing derived, how it is impacting consumers and businesses, and how businesses are working to prevent it.