top of page

Report Reveals Organizations Have Concerns Over Protecting Against Voice Attacks

Mutare Inc., a leading voice threat defense company based in Chicago, has unveiled the findings of its 2023 Voice Network Threat Survey, shedding light on the persistent uncertainty among industries about safeguarding against voice network attacks.

The survey, which gathered insights from cybersecurity and information technology professionals, including 40% in leadership positions, at prominent events like RSAC, Cisco Live, and Customer Contact Week (CCW), exposed a startling reality. As the volume of unwanted calls continues to surge, 24% of respondents have stopped answering their business phones altogether. The survey also revealed that 100% of participants have experienced adverse impacts due to voice threats, highlighting the gravity of the issue. These threats manifest as robocalls, spoof calls, scam calls, spam calls, spam storms, voice phishing (vishing), text phishing (smishing), and social engineering attacks.


One of the primary objectives of the annual Voice Network Threat Survey was to gain deeper insights into how these annoying and malicious calls affect businesses across different sectors and the measures being taken to protect against them. The study observed a shift in behavior, with 46% of respondents being cautious when dealing with unknown callers. While approximately half the participants turned to training as a solution, it became evident that training alone is insufficient to tackle the evolving threat.


Mutare's Index of Unwanted Traffic demonstrated a steady year-over-year increase in the share of unwanted calls received by businesses. The latest survey showed that an average of 10% of calls across industries were identified as unwanted. Interestingly, 28% of respondents lacked awareness of the percentage of their voice traffic that was unwanted, and 31% believed it exceeded 10%, indicating a lack of understanding in measuring the problem.

Alarmingly, nearly 1 in 5 respondents confirmed that their organizations experienced a voice-based attack within the last year, while 49% claimed they had not. Notably, 37% were uncertain whether their organizations faced such attacks, potentially hinting at underreported security incidents within companies.


The survey included participants from diverse industries, with the technology and innovation sector comprising the largest portion (39%), followed by government, financial services, healthcare, education, utilities and energy, manufacturing, retail, and legal.


An overwhelming majority (85%) of respondents agreed that it was time to prioritize voice as a threat vector. However, despite the availability of proactive technical solutions, the survey revealed limited adoption of these measures to combat the escalating problem.


With the 2023 Voice Network Threat Survey exposing the urgent need for enhanced defense against voice attacks, industry leaders are urged to take decisive steps in protecting their organizations from this growing threat.

###

bottom of page