Study Pinpoints Sources of Insider Data Threats

Highly publicized insider data thefts and security breaches highlight the increasing need for better security practices and solutions to reduce the risks posed by malicious insiders as well as unintentional insiders.

Crowd Research Partners has released the results of a comprehensive report gleaned from a survey of the 300,000+ member Information Security Community on LinkedIn. The purpose: to gain deep insight into the state of insider threats and what cyber security professionals are doing to prevent, detect, and successfully remediate these threats.

Download the full 42-page report

5 Key takeaways:

  1. 74% of organizations feel vulnerable to insider threats – a dramatic 7% increase over last year’s survey. However, less than half of all organizations (42%) have the appropriate controls in place to prevent an insider attack.
  2. Inadvertent data breaches (71%) top the list of insider threats that companies care most about. Negligent data (68%) and malicious data (61%) breaches come in a close second and third.
  3. Privileged users, such as managers with access to sensitive information, pose the biggest insider threat to organizations (60%). This is followed by contractors and consultants (57%), and regular employees (51%).
  4. 56% of security professionals say insider threats have become more frequent in the last 12 months. 42% of organizations expect a budget increase over the next year – a strong gain of 8% from the previous year.
  5. Over 75% of organizations estimate insider breach remediation costs could reach $500,000. 25% believe the cost exceeds $500,000 and can reach in the millions.

Need help reducing the risks posed by malicious insiders? DataLink’s security experts have you covered.  Contact us today: 410.729.0440 or sales@DataLinkTech.com.