77% of Security Leaders Would Sack Phishing Victims

New research from Arctic Wolf shows that most security leaders say they would sack staff who fall for phishing scams, even as incidents rise and leaders themselves admit to clicking malicious links.

Hardening of Attitudes

Arctic Wolf’s 2025 Human Risk Behaviour Snapshot reveals that 77 per cent of IT and security leaders say they have (or would) sack an employee for falling for a phishing or social engineering scam, up from 66 per cent in 2024. The report describes this shockingly high statistic as the result of a significant hardening of attitudes among security professionals, despite continuing increases in attack volume and breach rates.