Mutare Inc. released its second annual Voice Network Threat Survey, revealing that 1 in 4 business professionals no longer answer their business phone as the number of unwanted calls has skyrocketed in recent years. 

The Chicago-based market leader in voice threat defense polled more than 300 cybersecurity and information technology professionals attending RSAC, Cisco Live and Customer Contact Week (CCW). The survey found that 24% of respondents do not answer their business phone, and 100% said they have been negatively impacted by unwanted calls, which come in the form of robocalls, spoof calls, scam calls, spam calls, spam storms, vishing (voice phishing), smishing (SMS, or text, phishing) and social engineering.

Mutare has released a report detailing its findings, outlining how nuisance and nefarious calls are impacting businesses across industries and how they are responding to the threat. Mutare found a year-over-year increase in the share of unwanted calls businesses receive, with an average of 10% of calls businesses across industries receive being unwanted. 

Nearly 1 in 5 respondents said their organization faced a voice-based attack in the previous 12 months. About half of the respondents have implemented training to try and curb the problem, but training alone is not enough. A vast majority — 85% — of respondents said it is time to elevate voice as a threat vector, but the survey found scant implementation of proactive, technical solutions to fight the problem, despite such tools being available. 

To read the full announcement, click here.