An Inside Look At Insider Data Breaches

By Win Pham

“It’s what’s on the inside that counts.” This common sentiment suggests that one should not focus on people’s outward appearance but rather what’s in their hearts and in their minds – what’s on the inside. MSPs could also apply this philosophy, with a slightly different twist, to cybersecurity.

For comprehensive data protection, MSPs must not only attend to their clients’ external threats but also the threats they face from the inside — their employees. Insider threats are some of the most common – and most overlooked – security risks. Often, internal data breaches are unintentional, the result of negligence or lack of knowledge about security best practices: weak passwords, lost devices, carelessly shared information, etc. Occasionally, employees also commit transgressions intentionally for personal gain.

Regardless of the reason, insider data security threats must be addressed to deliver full-spectrum IT security. And to accomplish that, MSPs need to know the ins and outs of insider security threats.

SURVEY SAYS…

The Egress 2020 Insider Data Breach Survey revealed that 97 percent of IT leaders are worried about insider breach risks and 78 percent felt employees accidentally put data at risk within a 12-month period. Ironically, 71 percent of employees felt they had not inadvertently shared company info.