cyber trends
ADAM GORDON , COUNTRY MANAGER ANZ AT VARONIS , EXPLAINS THE MOST COMMON CAUSES OF INSIDER DATA BREACHES , THE IMPACT OF REMOTE WORKING AND KEY WAYS ORGANISATIONS CAN MITIGATE THESE RISKS .
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I corporate insiders are the hoodie-wearing outcasts that avoid conversation and keep to themselves . The reality is different . Chances are , you wouldn ’ t be able to pick out an insider bent on harming your organisation .
Many organisations don ’ t consider the risk that these parties present , but there ’ s strong reason to – Verizon ’ s 2020 Data Breach Investigations Report revealed that 30 % of all breaches last year involved internal actors .
Data represents their most important and valuable asset for many organisations , but too few organisations keep their data tightly controlled . Instead , data is often open and accessible to all employees within the organisation where it can not only be accessed , but copied , moved , altered , deleted – or simply emailed
Insider data leaks : Causes and remedies
from person to person – and even outside the company .
Ideally , access to data in any organisation should be restricted to only those who need it . This approach reduces the chances of that data being exfiltrated , corrupted or encrypted if users ’ access protections are compromised , typically through a successful phishing exercise .
Common sources of insider leaks
There are several ways in which data can be made unintentionally or unnecessarily accessible and there are a number of measures to prevent this happening .
Most users want to make their job easier and won ’ t necessarily follow organisational policies covering how data must be handled . They will store files on shared or networked drives and may often be unaware of just how widely available their actions make those files .
As a result , it only takes one user ’ s account to be compromised for data to be put at risk – and that compromised user might have had
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