A report from SailPoint Technologies, claims 59 per cent use business email platforms for personal functions. This includes using the business email to log into social media accounts, and using it to create e-commerce accounts.

SailPoint says, as social media sites are often under attack, and should a breach occur - these email addresses could be compromised and sold on the black market. Once there, malicious actors could use it to conduct phishing campaigns, or spread spam, malware and ransomware.

In fact, almost half of the respondents said they noticed an increase in the number of phishing messages they received year on year.

Using a business email for online shopping is problematic, as well, due to the rising number of phishing campaigns. Oftentimes, malicious actors impersonate popular retail brands in these campaigns.

Yet most people are confident they’re able to spot phishing, with almost all respondents saying they’d be able to identify a fraud attempt in their inbox. However many don’t know what to do with that knowledge, with the report finding only 29 per cent know how to appropriately react to a phishing email, namely by forwarding it to IT.

Among the different age groups of workers, Gen Z’s are the biggest offenders, the survey found. Almost all of them use their business emails for personal affairs. More than three-quarters use it for social media logins, while 46 percent said they would actually open the shady link or email attachment.