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Latest Research Highlights Growing Insider Threat in Cybersecurity Landscape
June 2015 by Marc Jacob
Watchful Software has sponsored ground-breaking cybersecurity research about the knowledge, attitudes, and plans of IT teams worldwide which identifies the escalation of ‘insider threats’ in enterprises over the prior year, and the relative inability for organizations to combat/prevent them. This is the main conclusion of the Insider Threat Spotlight Report that was released today. Further insights point to privileged users, such as managers with access to sensitive information, as posing the biggest insider threat to organizations, followed by contractors and consultants, and regular employees.
The Insider Threat Spotlight Report is an all-inclusive body of crowd-based research employing a comprehensive survey of over 500 cybersecurity professionals. It takes a deep look at what security practices are commonplace, and what employees know about their company’s data security, in an effort to illuminate the next steps IT teams need to engage in to stave off their next data security breach. The objective of the report is to gain more insight into the state of insider threats, and active solutions that are available to prevent them. The respondents range from technical executives to managers and IT security practitioners, and they represent organizations of varying sizes across many industries.
Some Key Trends in the Insider Threat Spotlight Report:
• 62 percent of security professionals said insider threats have become more frequent in the last 12 months
• Privileged users, such as managers with access to sensitive information, pose the biggest insider threat to organizations at 59 percent, followed by contractors and consultants at 48 percent and regular employees at 46 percent
• Less than 50 percent of respondents believed their organizations have appropriate controls to prevent insider attacks, and 62 percent of respondents said that insider attacks are far more difficult to detect and prevent than external attacks
• Finally, 38 percent of survey respondents estimated data breach remediation costs to reach up to $500,000 per insider attack, while 64 percent of respondents said they “found it difficult to estimate the damage of a successful insider attack.”
“It is important to take stock of the magnitude of the cyber-breach problem today as we continue to face data breaches of ever-increasing size and regularity,” said Charles Foley, Chairman and CEO, Watchful Software. “We are pleased to be a supporter of The Insider Threat Spotlight Report as it is a strong, comprehensive tool with valuable insights for organizations to use in understanding the key data security threats they face today, allowing them to begin the conversation about preventing further losses.”
