Barracuda Networks, Inc. has released findings of a recent global study, ‘Office 365 Adoption Survey: Drivers, Risks and Opportunities’, with over 1,100 participants ranging from single-person businesses to companies with more than 10,000 employees.
The survey was meant to measure trends around the adoption and use of Microsoft Office 365, including contributing factors for decisions about migration versus remaining with an existing platform. Highlights of the survey includes:
Adoption rates significantly increased
63% of respondents are currently using Office 365, while 49% are planning to move as well, showing an increase of 20% in adoption compared to last year.
Concerns over threats of not migrating to Office 365
Nearly 44% of the respondents who have not migrated are voicing out concerns when deciding against migrating to Office 365. Nearly 70% of active users reported significant concerns about advanced threats, while those planning to migrate, 76% expressed the same concerns.
Fear of phishing, spear phishing, or social engineering
Although 89% of the respondents expressed concerns over phishing, spear phishing and social engineering, less than 36% said that they’d rather use a third-party solution to help mitigate these threats. Unfortunately, 46% of respondents reported that they have already been targeted by such attacks.
Ransomware is a top concern
More than 92% of respondents are worried about ransomware, while more than 47% reported that they have been a victim to such attacks. Of those victimised, 76% identified that emails were the entry point for the threats.
Most customers opt for layered security
57% of respondents claimed they were augmenting Office 365 deployments with a layered security approach, as well as additional archiving or backup solutions, along with 72% of those who plan to take the same approach.
“These findings indicate the growing security awareness we’re seeing from customers, and the necessity to take a layered approach moving forward. By deploying Barracuda Sentinel and Barracuda Essentials for Office 365, customers are able to move core business processes to the cloud and be confident enough that they are well protected against attacks,” states Forbes-May.
Barracuda Essentials for Office 365 is a multi-layer, cloud-based email security, backup and archiving solution that helps to protect organisations against advanced email-based attacks and data loss, while minimising business disruptions.
On the other hand, Barracuda Sentinel combines three powerful layers including artificial intelligence technology, domain fraud visibility using DMARC authentication and anti-fraud training, into a solution that guards against today’s personalised attacks.
