Companies Struggle To Deal With Insider Threats

Baseline Magazine

One of the biggest business and technology challenges facing enterprises that are attempting to batten down the security hatches is the ongoing peril of insider threats. In some cases, these breaches occur inadvertently, when employees engage in risky or negligent behavior without realizing the damage it can cause.

But threats also take place due to intentional fraud, hacking or intellectual property (IP) theft. And the nature of insider threats — an authorized person misusing or abusing access to systems and data — makes it extremely difficult to detect such attacks and protect against them.

A recent survey of 355 security professionals conducted by mobile software firm Spectorsoft offers insights into the problem, which, according to industry estimates, amounts to approximately $40 billion a year in losses in the United States alone and about $2.9 trillion globally. Among other things, the survey found that while executives across a wide swath of industries acknowledge the problem and the risks, companies are largely unable to deter insider threats — and the problem is getting worse.

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