Benefit implementation headaches and how to avoid them
5 min
In this article, we’ll break down how an identity protection benefit can help corporations reduce risk. By giving employees the tools they need to secure their personal and workplace credentials, companies can better defend against data breaches, phishing, and malware attacks.
For corporations, minimizing risk is a key part of long-term success. Whether it’s navigating the risk of uncertain market conditions, complying with changing regulations, or bolstering security frameworks, corporations across industries benefit from reducing the risk tied to their daily operations—especially when aiming to maintain or increase profits.
From implementing better cybersecurity measures to conducting market research, there are many paths to reducing corporate risk and protecting profits.
But what if an employee benefit could play a role? The right identity protection solution can help lower the chances of costly incidents like data breaches, phishing, and malware.
The risks associated with data breaches
No matter what industry you’re in, data breaches are a major concern for any company because they can have a devastating impact on your organization, including:
Your operations: Among organizations that suffered a data breach, 76 percent said that it took more than 100 days to completely recover.
Your reputation: 58 percent of consumers believe that a brand is no longer trustworthy after a data breach.
Your bottom line: On average, a data breach cost companies $4.4 million in 2024.
With the significant impacts of a data breach, organizations need to take every opportunity they can get to reduce the risk of an incident.
The risks associated with phishing and malware attacks
A phishing attack is a cyberattack in which a hacker impersonates a trusted person or source to trick their target into revealing sensitive information like credit card numbers, passwords, and other sensitive data. These attacks take many forms, however, they often start with an email, text, or phone call requesting confidential information—or when someone visits a malicious site that requires them to enter their credentials.
Phishing attacks are one of the most common types of cyberattacks with over 3.4 billion phishing emails sent each day and over 1 million attacks recorded in the first quarter of 2025. And these attacks can be particularly expensive for organizations with security breaches from a phishing attack costing an average of $4.88 million in 2024.
Although phishing attacks are a major cause of data breaches, they can also be the first step in other schemes in which hackers can steal significant funds by impersonating trusted or high-level employees.
Many employees have company-provided cybersecurity solutions on their work devices that prevent phishing attacks. However, with 67 percent of employees using personal devices for work regardless of official policies, bad actors can still gain access to workplace systems through employee devices.
Malware attacks, which use malicious software to steal data, cause damage to a computer system, and more, are also a significant threat to organizations. Ransomware, a type of malware, cost companies an average of $10.22 million to recover from in 2025.
How an identity protection benefit reduces the risk of data breaches and phishing attacks
While no solution can make a company immune to cyberattacks, identity protection benefits can play a key role in reducing the risk and impact of a data breach. That’s because many breaches don’t start with a direct attack on a company’s infrastructure; they start with individuals.
Hackers often exploit stolen or weak credentials, phishing tactics, or social engineering to gain access. Identity protection tools help close these gaps with:
Dark web monitoring: With a dark web monitoring tool, employees can easily see if both their personal and workplace credentials have been compromised and give them a chance to change them before they’re used in a cyberattack. Although personal credentials aren’t directly associated with workplace accounts, ensuring their security is crucial as they can be used in phishing attacks to attain access to workplace accounts. Dark web monitoring can also be used to detect compromised credit card numbers, providing further protection for illegal use for company-issued credit cards.
Digital footprint management: A tool that empowers employees to see which organizations have their personal information, such as email or address, on file and have it removed, they can better manage their digital footprint and reduce the number of organizations that have access to their information, reducing the likelihood that their information is exposed in a data breach.
A quality identity protection benefit will come with several tools and features that help employees reduce the likelihood of falling victim to a phishing schemes and malware attacks. These tools and features include:
Social media monitoring: With a social media monitoring tool, employees can immediately detect unusual activity on their social media accounts that is associated with account takeovers. Because bad actors can use an employee’s social media account to launch phishing attacks, recognizing this unusual activity as quickly as possible is critical in preventing phishing attacks. And as an added benefit, early detection of an account takeover can prevent bad actors from posting inappropriate or damaging posts that can affect your company’s reputation.
Proactive scam protection and device protection: Protecting your employees from scams and phishing attacks on their personal devices is critical in preventing phishing attacks. With proactive scam protection that scans for phishing attempts and detects malicious links, you can help your employees protect their personal devices and reduce the risk of a phishing or malware attack impacting their workplace apps or accounts.
Ongoing education and support: With how complex phishing and malware schemes are, even the most careful employees can be fooled by them. A dynamic identity protection benefit will provide the latest updates on scams and fraud schemes, including phishing attacks, that can help employees recognize and avoid even the most convincing attempts.
With a comprehensive identity protection benefit, you get the best of both worlds—protection for your employees and protection for your organization. If you’d like to discover how Allstate Identity Protection can help reduce corporate risk and protect your employees from modern threats, contact our team.