CIO opinion
CIO OPINION
“
EMPLOYEES
WITH MALICIOUS INTENT
HAVE EVERY TOOL THEY
NEED AT THEIR DISPOSAL.
//////////////////
Tony Pepper, CEO, Egress
How C-level
execs can better
understand insider risk
In the digital era, it is easy to
be blinded by the lights of new
technologies. However, this
can cause us to disregard the
factors which pose a threat
to insider risk. Tony Pepper,
CEO, Egress, discusses insider
breach risks and suggests
the way we understand and
manage insider risk needs to
change to comply with today’s
data security challenges.
I
nsider data breach risk has existed
for as long as companies have but
its nature, impact and a business’
ability to control it has changed
dramatically in the digital data-driven
age. As a valuable commercial asset,
data is a target for theft by malicious
actors within and outside the business,
while as a regulated liability, it must
also be protected from accidental loss
or exposure. Data security is a board-
level concern and gaining a better
understanding of insider breach risk helps
directors ensure it is managed effectively.
The digital workplace puts data
on the front line
The first step in understanding
the evolution of insider breach risk
is to acknowledge the effect of
unprecedented transformation of the
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INTELLIGENTCIO
workplace and employees’ relationship
with technology and data. Increased
mobility and the rise of remote, flexible
working mean human-digital interaction
is near constant. This blurs the lines
between work and homelife, creating an
‘always-on’ culture where employees
juggle diverse priorities simultaneously.
At the same time, data volumes have
increased exponentially and businesses
have become hyperconnected, providing
workers with multiple channels for data
sharing. Yet, despite these immense
changes, employees remain the same;
as fallible and fundamentally human as
ever. So, we’re looking at a world where
a single mistake made by a pressured
employee – a mistyped email address or
response to a phishing email – can cause
an accidental breach of huge scale and
devastating impact, while employees
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