AST September 2019 Magazine Sept 2019 Magazine | Page 31

Again, this
is primarily
due to a lack
of under-
standing of
an agency’s
security pol-
icies, but it
also speaks
to poten-
tial
care-
lessness, as
many respondents cited “acci-
dental data exposure” as a top
threat from general contractors.
www.AmericanSecurityToday.com
Properly onboarding
September 2019 employees
- Edition 37
and contractors, along with con-
tinuous communication, is im-
perative to preventing attacks and
keeping data secured.
The good news is that nearly half
of survey respondents (49%) rate
their training efforts to be at an
acceptable level, leading them
to conclude that their ability to
prevent and detect careless in-
sider threats is “effective.”
A slightly lower number—48%-
-feel the same about their pos-
ture against malicious insider
Improving training and educa- threats.
tion for both regular employees
and contractors can significant- While those numbers are encour-
ly improve an agency’s ability to aging, they only represent just
under half of survey respondents.
mitigate risk.
Fifty-three percent of IT profes-
sionals believe that ongoing se-
curity training is the most benefi-
cial weapon in the battle to reduce
risks.
In fact, when asked about both
careless and malicious insider
threats, more than 20% of respon-
dents remarked that dealing with
these risks is “a constant battle.” 29