The data related to cyberattacks on businesses is simply eye-opening. In 2024, there were 1,636 weekly attacks per organization. In the case of small businesses, 75% of them experienced at least one cyberattack in 2025. A worrying trend that has come up is that individual cyber mistakes are contributing quite substantially to cyberattacks. The rise in remote and hybrid work, the use of personal PCs from home for office work, dependency on cloud platforms, etc., are some of the new reasons that have led to an increase in cyberattacks. It is therefore important to understand cyber security threats and analyze possible solutions.
1. Personal devices become corporate entry points
Because of changing work trends, businesses now allow employees to work remotely. In such cases, many of them use their personal devices. Due to this, their personal security habits have a direct impact on corporate security systems. Compromised personal devices lead to indirect access to business emails, shared drives, critical information files or internal dashboards. To prevent any data leaks and compliance violations, basic device security standards should be enforced for the employees across all levels.
2. Misunderstanding platform safety
Just because a platform is popular and used by billions of people does not make it automatically safe. This is where many employees make cyber mistakes, as they trust them to be safe in all regards.
Telegram is widely used as a messenger for quick conversations between office workers. But there have been times when questions around Telegram scams and is Telegram secure have highlighted how misplaced trust creates vulnerabilities. The typical symptoms to know if there’s a scam or not can prevent sensitive conversations and data from falling into the wrong hands. For this, businesses need to train and educate users on platform limits, whether it’s Telegram or Facebook or X or WhatsApp. This can be done through regular training sessions and awareness campaigns.
3. Weak authentication leading to account takeovers
Employees might be using weak passwords to log in to office email or work-specific collaboration tools and other SaaS products. They might have changed passwords and usernames but simple changes prove to be ineffective if passwords are not really strong or do not use 2FA. To prevent any chance of a cyber attack, train employees to set strong passwords that include a mix of numbers, letters, special characters and uppercase letters. They should also use 2FA or MFA to strengthen the defense further.
4. Missed or ignored updates create vulnerabilities
System and app updates should be done the moment they’re due. Any gap on this front leaves vulnerabilities exposed. Hackers find these gaps too easy to exploit because security gaps are already documented and unpatched. From financial frauds to making systems inoperable, the possibilities are many in case of a cyberattack. To protect the systems, make automatic updates mandatory.
5. Social media at work means high risk
Employees increasingly use social media and chat platforms for office discussions, file sharing and other work like sourcing candidates, vendors, background checks, etc. Basically, the use is widespread and in between, there’s use for personal reasons also.
From Telegram security to Instagram safety, lack of awareness can lead users to trust malicious links or impersonated contacts. This is where Instagram, Facebook, X and Telegram app scams take place. It includes various other apps like YouTube, Teams, etc., so nothing should be taken lightly. Set limits for social media platform use, and if possible, set a rule to prevent personal use and define which ones can be used in the office.
6. Small human errors turning into big risks
Cyber incidents often start with simple cyber mistakes, which mostly snowball into something big. It’s almost always about negligence and simple rushed actions like:
- Click – A rushed decision to click on a fake malicious link
- Share – Uploading files to an unsecured platform or sharing with an impersonator
- Trust – Believing a message without verification and ending up taking an unwanted action
Regular awareness training that focuses on real-world scenarios makes a big difference in developing the cyber sense of employees.
7. Built-in protections ignored
Devices like Macs come pre-loaded with firewalls, encryption and access controls and other key security features. To enhance them, companies like Apple and others regularly roll out updates that address vulnerabilities. The cyber mistakes happen when employees ignore these. It’s a matter of minutes to update the systems and software but it is the lack of cyber threat protection information that makes them do so. Businesses should standardize security settings across all work devices for all employees and audit the rollout adoption.
Conclusion
Cybercrime data clearly shows that hackers understand where humans are prone to make cyber mistakes when working on systems. They are smart and use the latest technologies to exploit these simple vulnerabilities and leave a business financially and reputationally damaged in no time. With these above ideas and increased focus on developing strong cybersecurity teams and audit models, businesses can minimize the cyberattacks.
More must-read stories from Enterprise League:
- Learn essential strategies for protecting customers’ data from breaches.
- Discover how to mitigate cybersecurity risks in your organization.
- Understand the negative effects of social media in workplace settings.
- Explore the common mistakes entrepreneurs make when starting businesses.
- Master techniques for securing your business against malware threats effectively.
