New Exclaimer research reveals 73% of US enterprises experienced email-related security incidents even as the majority say email remains most trusted source for critical business comms

While US businesses continue to depend on email for mission-critical communication, a new report issued by Exclaimer, the leading provider of email signature management solutions, reveals they're struggling to secure and govern one of their most essential channels. According to Exclaimer's U.S. Business Email Report 2025, 73% of US organizations experienced an email-related security incident in the past year, yet most continue to manage processes like email signature updates, disclaimers, and branding through manual, fragmented processes.

The findings are the result of a survey of over 4,000 global IT leaders, including 1,000 in the US, and expose a critical gap: while 86% of US IT leaders say more than half of their business communication flows through email, the infrastructure supporting it hasn't kept pace with modern security and governance demands.

US security landscape more volatile than global peers

US organizations report some of the highest levels of email security incidents compared to: 46% of US IT leaders cite managing external threats such as phishing and spoofing as their top security challenge, versus 43% in the UK, 42% in Germany, and 47% in Australia. Regulated industries bear the heaviest impact:

• Legal sector: 60% experienced incidents, yet only 41% feel very confident in compliance
• Finance: 62% experienced incidents, with 42% confidence in compliance posture
• Technology: 59% experienced incidents, 39% confident in compliance
• Healthcare: 58% experienced incidents, only 36% very confident

"The data tells a clear story," said Cary Vidal, VP of IT & Security at Exclaimer. "US businesses are leaning heavily on email for their most important communications – contracts, compliance notifications, client interactions – but they're managing it with outdated, manual processes that create security and consistency gaps. When every message reinforces your brand, meets compliance standards, and maintains security standards automatically, email stops being a risk to work around and becomes infrastructure you can build on."

Email governance stuck in manual mode

Despite widespread agreement that professional email signatures build trust – 86% of US IT leaders acknowledge this – only 18% of US organizations use centralized signature management solutions. The majority still rely on employees to manage their own signatures (41%), manual IT processes for updates and compliance, and fragmented ownership across IT, marketing, HR, and legal teams.

This manual approach creates particular strain in high-email-volume sectors. In legal and finance, where professionals send 20-30+ emails daily, signature updates and disclaimer enforcement rank among the most time-consuming IT administrative tasks. Managing email signatures manually in these highly regulated industries poses significant security risks, as inconsistent branding and compliance measures can lead to data breaches and regulatory violations.

Growing appetite for automation meets implementation reality

The research reveals a striking disconnect between US IT leaders' modernization goals and their current capabilities. While 64% want to automate parts of their email infrastructure, only 17% say they're fully prepared to implement automation. Migration complexity, internal budget approvals, and limited awareness of available tools remain the key barriers.

US market implications

The findings suggest US organizations are at an inflection point. Email remains their most trusted channel for high-stakes communication, but the manual processes supporting it can't scale with growing security threats and compliance demands. Organizations that modernize their email governance now position themselves ahead of both regulatory requirements and competitive pressures.

Industries with the highest email dependency – legal, finance, healthcare, and technology – face the most immediate pressure to implement automated, centralized email management solutions.

Resources:

• Download the full U.S. Business Email Report 2025

About Exclaimer:

Exclaimer is the leading provider of email signature management solutions for Microsoft and Google email services. Its scalable cloud-based platform enables organizations to centrally manage and automate email signatures, ensuring regulatory compliance, operational efficiency and brand consistency. Built for IT teams, Exclaimer simplifies administration by eliminating manual updates, reducing security risks and maintaining full control over business email communications.

Exclaimer delivers 20 billion email signatures from 9 million email accounts across 70,000 organizations annually. Its diverse customer base includes Sony, Mattel, Bank of America, NBC, the Government of Canada, the BBC and the Academy Awards.

www.exclaimer.com or follow Exclaimer on Facebook, LinkedIn, and X (formerly Twitter).

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250930478909/en/