Proofpoint was recognized as the Overall Enterprise Email Security Solution Provider of the Year at the annual CyberSecurity Breakthrough Awards for the second straight year. The awards program is conducted by CyberSecurity Breakthrough, a leading independent market intelligence organization that recognizes the top companies, technologies, and products in the global security market.
The importance of an effective email security solution for organizations cannot be understated. Email remains the No. 1 threat vector for cybersecurity attacks, with 94% of threats starting with an email. The costs of these attacks can be devastating. The latest FBI report shows that email fraud represented the largest financial losses in 2020—nearly $1.9 billion—which is 44% of the total reported losses.
Further, 75% of ransomware is delivered by email, and email phishing has become the most profitable and popular method for threat actors to gain initial access to corporate networks. Fifty-seven percent of organizations experienced a successful credential phishing attack last year, and U.S. organizations are particularly vulnerable to people-centric attacks.
Phishing has a low entry barrier for cybercriminals with a high-value return. These emails are very easy to create, require little technical knowledge and most importantly, depend solely on one user clicking to succeed. Eighty-five percent of breaches involved a human element according to the most recent Verizon DBIR. Unfortunately, threat actors actively use social engineering to convince people to click a link or open an attachment—often by exploiting their instinctive decisions without proper vetting.
“With remote and hybrid work in the spotlight, people are increasingly the target when it comes to these and other cyber threats, making a people-centric approach to cybersecurity necessary to fortifying the human element against advanced threats, data loss, and compliance risks.,” said Ryan Kalember, executive vice president of cybersecurity strategy, Proofpoint. “Proofpoint has blocked millions of malicious messages from ransomware-linked threat actors, and we block 45,000 fraud attempts each day. We are committed to developing security innovations that protect people from today’s most damaging threats.”
CyberSecurity Breakthrough’s team was particularly impressed with our people-centric approach to today’s threats because they understand individual people are usually the top attack targets. As James Johnson, managing director, CyberSecurity Breakthrough noted, “email attacks are inherently about people and Proofpoint provides unique, actionable visibility into the human attack surface by revealing the risks that VAPs (Very Attacked People) and peer groups pose.”
The mission of the CyberSecurity Breakthrough Awards is to honor excellence and recognize the innovation, hard work and success in a range of information security categories, including Cloud Security, Threat Detection, Risk Management, Fraud Prevention, Mobile Security, Email Security and many more. This year attracted 4,000 nominations from more than 20 countries.
Proofpoint is honored to receive this award and recognition.