Phishing remains an active threat vector with the volume of attacks growing, according Proofpoint's 2019 State of the Phish report, released on Jan. 24.

In a phishing attack, a hacker aims to trick a user into clicking on some form of malicious link that is hidden with an email. The study found that in 2018, 83 percent of global infosecurity respondents were impacted by phishing attacks, up from 76 percent in 2017. Targeted phishing attacks known as spear phishing also were on the rise from 53 percent in 2017 up to 64 percent in 2018. Among the key findings in the report was also the simple fact that not all employees within organizations actually understand cyber-security terms and their associated risks. For example, in the U.S., only 65 percent of individuals actually could correctly explain what phishing is.