Many business owners focus on ensuring that new employees are set up with the equipment and tools they need to begin their role. This usually includes providing a laptop, granting access to systems, setting up email accounts and offering some initial orientation. However, what often goes unnoticed is that this early period is one of the riskiest for a business’s cyber security posture. While attention is given to productivity and onboarding logistics, cyber threats targeting new hires can slip by unnoticed, making the business vulnerable without even realising it.
Recent studies have shown that a significant number of new starters, specifically around seventy-one percent, fall victim to phishing or social engineering attacks within their first three months of employment. This statistic indicates a focused effort by cyber criminals to exploit people during the time when they are still learning internal processes and unfamiliar with standard communication practices. Attackers often pose as figures of authority such as HR personnel, line managers or members of IT support, leveraging the inexperience and eagerness of new employees to manipulate them into clicking malicious links or sharing sensitive information.
The underlying reason this continues to occur is because new employees typically want to make a good impression. They are less likely to question requests that appear to come from someone senior, and they may not yet understand what constitutes a normal request versus a suspicious one. This makes them more susceptible to fraudulent messages, such as fake HR forms, urgent-looking invoices, or vague but authoritative requests. Statistics show that new starters are forty-four percent more likely to click on a malicious link compared to more experienced colleagues. When attackers impersonate company executives, the success rate increases even further, with new hires being forty-five percent more likely to be deceived.
To reduce this risk, cyber security education needs to be introduced as early as possible in the onboarding process. Waiting until new starters have “settled in” is no longer a viable approach. Businesses that implement targeted security training and practical simulations during the induction phase have seen a measurable decrease in phishing-related incidents, in some cases reducing the risk by thirty percent. While technical defences such as firewalls and antivirus software remain important, they do not address the human element. Employees continue to be the most common entry point for cyber attacks, and unless they are equipped with the knowledge to identify and report suspicious activity from the beginning, the organisation remains exposed. Ensuring that all staff, especially new ones, are prepared from day one is critical to improving overall resilience.
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