The tragedy, upheaval and historic changes of 2020 have been documented countless times over. But as organisations around the world take their first cautious steps to normal, “the year that wasn’t” still holds valuable lessons worth exploring. That’s especially true in the realm of cybersecurity.

As the global pandemic upended work and home routines, cyber attackers pounced. They exploited suddenly unfamiliar work settings and people’s fear, uncertainty and doubt to trick users and compromise organisations. And now in 2021 we’re seeing what happens when emboldened cyber criminals press their advantage, as a rash of ransomware attacks target high-profile businesses and infrastructure.

This report dives deep into each of three facets of user risk. It explores how the extraordinary events of 2020, and the historic shift they sparked, has transformed the threat landscape. It examines the shifting threat ecosystem and what it means for the rest of us. And it explains how a people-centric defence can make users more resilient, mitigate attacks and manage privilege.

This report covers threats detected, mitigated and resolved during 2020 among Proofpoint deployments around the world, one of the largest, most diverse data sets in cybersecurity.