Businesses spend both time and money to protect data from hackers. But what about the security threats posed by insiders?
According to a new survey of IT security professionals conducted by network security company Preempt, security threats from the inside of an organization are as big a concern as external threats.
Insider Threats a Cause of Concern for Businesses
The study reveals 49 percent of IT security professionals are more concerned about internal threats than external threats.
Malware installed by careless employees (73 percent) and stolen or compromised credentials (66 percent) are their top concerns.
What’s more, 87 percent say they are concerned about naïve employees who bend the rules to get their jobs done, while putting company security at risk.
Employee Training Can Address Challenges
Businesses understand the need to train employees to prevent security threats. But the training they provide to educate employees falls short.
According to the survey, only 10 percent rate such trainings as effective.
For businesses, this clearly means there’s a need to reassess security trainings to impart critical information. A combination of both classroom and online training could make a big difference.
Security Teams Need Support
Security teams put in extra time and effort to prevent insider threats. But most security professionals are overworked, which doesn’t leave them time to respond to certain issues despite having skills.
Alarmingly, 91 percent of security professionals say insiders have access to systems they shouldn’t.
The solution may lie in adopting software tools that can boost security while freeing up internal resources.
A total of 317 IT security professionals were surveyed for the study.
Images: preempt
This article, “Could Your Own Employees Be a Security Threat? (Infographic)” was first published on Small Business Trends