- Being guilty or getting trouble is the greatest concerns of workers by informing cyber attacks
- United Kingdom workers understand and can identify cyber attacks quite well
- This comes as cyber attacks become worryingly common
The new data has claimed two out of five (39%) that office workers would not even tell the cybersecurity teams of their company if they thought they had been victims of a cyber attack at work.
Cohesion findings despite understanding generally better compared to other European nations: 43% of the United Kingdom workers understand ransomware, compared to 28% in France and 30% in Germany.
Up to four out of five (79%) British employees would say that they feel safe to identify a cyber attack, but many choose to remain silent.
Workers feel ashamed of cyber attacks
Cohesity says that workers are more embarrassed for being guilty (17%) or getting into trouble (17%), which leads them to remain silent in case of attacks. Additional 15% declared that they would not want to cause a scandal, with 11% admitting that they would prefer to try to solve the problem they themselves instead of notifying it.
However, separate IBM research reveals that violations last more than 200 days cost about 34% more than those previously contained (through Morgan Lewis). In addition, silence delays the response to incidents and increases vulnerability to threats such as ransomware, propagation of malware and additional phishing attempts.
The 2024 government data reveal that half of all the United Kingdom companies and a third of the United Kingdom’s beneficial organizations had experienced cyber attacks or infractions within the previous year, an even more relevant number between medium (70%) and larger (74%) companies, and it is likely to be even higher this year.
The Olivier Savornin cohesion GVP emphasized: “Stay in silence if they suspect that a malicious cyber attack is possibly the worst thing an employee could do.”
Savornin asks for a culture in the workplace than manufacturers workers feel more comfortable by increasing the alarm, backed by adequate cybersecurity training.
The Cohesity Global cyber resistance head, James Blake, said companies should adopt a holistic approach to “planning, processes, people and technology.”
