E-Business
Firm Warns that Employees’ Digital Fatigue Leads to Higher Cyber Risks
In observing World Mental Health Day on the 10th of October, Kaspersky warns of the relationship between digital fatigue and increased exposure to cyber risks.
In today’s data-driven and digital business environment, office employees are bombarded with a constant feed of notifications, continuous digital interactions and the need to make huge amounts of decisions throughout the day.
Even though advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are helping to improve efficiencies, workers are under significant strain.
This can result in digital fatigue that not only negatively impacts an employee’s well-being and productivity versus higher rates of burnout, but also risks opening the company to a range of cyberthreats, from phishing to deepfakes, warns Kaspersky.
“Employees face hundreds of decisions daily, that range from small, routine choices to critical business decisions. Eventually, the brain’s ability to make sound judgments declines over time and pressure. The constant influx of emails, messages, and alerts are exacerbating this digital fatigue,” says Brandon Muller, Technical Expert for the MEA region at Kaspersky.
In fact, a research by Forbes Advisor shows that digital communications make 58% of employees feel like they need to be available more often.
This results in 60% of the workforce feeling increased burnout. The constant need to stay online and multitask adds to this high-pressure environment, making employees more prone to mistakes.
Phishing still prevalent
Phishing remains one of the most widespread forms of cybercrime. Fatigued employees are more likely to miss the warning signs of a phishing email, especially when they are just one among many in their overflowing inboxes and as phishing campaigns become ever more sophisticated.
These attacks are designed to deceive employees into disclosing sensitive information, such as login credentials or financial data, by posing as legitimate sources.
While phishing attacks come in various forms, they often target corporate email systems due to the potential wealth of valuable information they hold, making them prime targets for exploitation.
The rising threat of deepfakes
AI is also contributing to the rise of deepfakes – highly convincing audio or video content manipulated to deceive the recipient. Even when not fatigued, employees are finding it more difficult to assess the authenticity of such content.
When it comes to digital fatigue, these deepfakes can pose a serious risk in corporate settings, where cybercriminals may impersonate executives to authorise fraudulent transactions or gain access to sensitive information.
Other threats
From inadvertent installation of malware to checking the contents of a USB found on a way to the office – the cyber risks may vary in form and can lead to devastating consequences. If robust cybersecurity solutions are in place to help identify and filter the threats, and if employees are educated and alert, organisations are in a much safer position.
Supporting employees
There are several proactive measures organisations can adopt to help reduce the cognitive load on their employees:
- Cybersecurity training that is relatable and engaging: By using automated, customised training platforms that adjust content based on role and experience, organisations can make sure their employees stay informed without feeling overwhelmed. Gamified elements in training can also enhance engagement and retention.
- Automated cybersecurity solutions: Investing in advanced cybersecurity tools, such as automated threat detection and response systems, help businesses reduce human error and mitigate risks.
Protection solutions for mail servers with anti-phishing, anti-spam, and malware detection technologies decrease the chance of infection. These tools can work in the background, allowing employees to focus on their work without constantly worrying about potential cyber threats.
- Enable a Default Deny policy for critical user profiles, particularly those in financial departments, which ensures that only legitimate web resources can be accessed.
- Create areas for employees to take a break.
Advice for employees to combat digital fatigue:
- Establish routines for certain decisions to save mental energy for more critical choices.
- Prioritise tasks, delegate or automate less important decisions.
- Identify most important criteria to ease decision making, narrow down your choices, ask for advice and additional information.
- Focus on key data, limit information overload and distractions when taking important decisions.
- Recognise the signs of decision fatigue, such as reduced concentration, increased irritability, and procrastination.
- Schedule regular breaks to recharge and prioritise some exercise such as going for a walk. Also consider exercises for your eyes and neck.
- Stay alert when receiving messages that look uncommon, as well as when visiting new web pages and making money transactions.
“The demands of the digital workplace are not going away. Fortunately, organisations can take meaningful steps to support their employees while still protecting the business from cyber threats. By addressing the root causes of decision and digital fatigue, companies can reduce the risk of successful phishing, deepfakes, and other sophisticated cyberattacks,” concludes Muller.
In a sobering revelation of the evolving threat landscape facing the digital asset ecosystem, blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs has disclosed that over $2.1 billion worth of cryptocurrency was stolen in the first half of 2025 alone, spanning at least 75 high-profile hacks and exploits.
This staggering figure marks a 10 per cent surge over the previous first-half record set in 2022 and nearly eclipses the total stolen in all of 2024.
But beyond the monetary scale, the report reveals a deeper concern: a growing trend of state-sponsored cyber aggression weaponising crypto assets for strategic and geopolitical purposes.
The most devastating breach to date occurred in February when Dubai-based exchange Bybit lost $1.5 billion—the largest crypto heist in history.
TRM Labs attributes the attack to North Korean state actors, noting that the incident alone accounted for nearly 70 percent of total losses during the period and doubled the average hack size to $30 million.
“The Bybit hack redefined the threat landscape,” the report stated.
“It exemplifies how digital asset theft has transcended criminal opportunism and morphed into a tool of statecraft.”
Indeed, North Korea-linked entities were responsible for an estimated $1.6 billion of the total stolen, further entrenching Pyongyang’s status as the most prolific nation-state threat actor in the crypto sphere.
Yet the menace is diversifying. On June 18, Iranian crypto exchange Nobitex was breached for over $90 million by a group reportedly linked to Israel, Gonjeshke Darande (Predatory Sparrow).
Unusually, the stolen funds were routed to unusable vanity addresses, underscoring symbolic and political motives rather than financial gain.
TRM Labs flagged this as a “disturbing shift,” with digital asset theft increasingly deployed as a weapon in asymmetric geopolitical conflict.
The report also found that more than 80 percent of losses stemmed from infrastructure breaches, including private key theft, seed phrase leaks, and front-end compromises— attacks typically ten times costlier than other vectors.
Meanwhile, DeFi exploits such as flash loan manipulations accounted for 12 percent of losses, reflecting persistent smart contract vulnerabilities despite years of scrutiny.
As digital currencies become enmeshed in global rivalries, TRM Labs warns that conventional cybersecurity approaches are now inadequate.
“Massive breaches, often tied to nation-state operations, require a new defence paradigm,” the firm asserted, urging industrywide adoption of advanced safeguards and cross-border collaboration among regulators and law enforcement.
Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has inaugurated the pilot take-off of its new Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered registration portal.
A statement issued by the commission explained that Malam Hussaini Magaji, registrar-general of the CAC, made the announcement during the 2025 Stakeholders Forum in Port Harcourt.
According to him, “the initiative is a major milestone in Nigeria’s business facilitation drive.”
The Registrar further explained that the upgraded portal marks a complete overhaul of the Company Registration Portal (CRP), saying that it comes with advanced features designed to simplify and speed up business registration.
The new system, according to him, allows for instant name reservation approvals, likening the ease to creating an email account, and stressing that the AI-powered platform could suggest available alternatives to business names and approve them immediately.
Another innovation, he stated, is the ability to register a business using only the National Identification Number (NIN) of a director or proprietor, pointing out that there is an ambitious target of completing business registration and certificate generation within 30 minutes, subject to real-time NIN validation.
Bitget has launched its institutional services in Nigeria, offering fintech companies a robust platform to build innovative solutions on top of Bitget’s suite of institutional-grade offerings.
Gracy Chen, CEO, Bitget, in a statement said, “Our goal is to empower Nigerian businesses to innovate and leverage blockchain for wealth creation opportunities, hence, the institutional services empower fintech leaders with tailored solutions, as the offerings designed to cater for the unique operational needs of institutional clients, enabling businesses to embed trading functionalities like spot and futures markets, wallet management, and more, directly into their platforms.
“The Key services include White-label Broker Services which enabled Fintech companies to deploy customized crypto exchanges using Bitget’s infrastructure while managing branding and users independently. There is also API Solutions that can make the Developers to integrate trading functionality via APIs for spot, margin, and derivatives markets, ensuring fast execution and seamless experiences for end users.”
Chen added, “The ND Broker Model provides clients with complete autonomy over user-facing platforms, offering exclusive front-end flexibility while relying on Bitget for back-end market liquidity. Clients are able to employ Protection Fund and Proof of Reserves of over $600million secured in the Bitget Protection Fund and real-time Proof of Reserves, which gives clients assurance of maximum transparency and security.”
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