Cybersecurity Threat #1: The Inside Man (Or Woman)

the cybersecurity landscape is constantly shifting and evolving as new cybersecurity threats and security solutions emerge. Security measures that work against the top cyber threats one day may be rendered obsolete by new types of cyber threats the next. For businesses to minimize their risk of a data security breach, they need to be constantly vigilant of the different types of cyber security threats that they face—both new and old.

However, it’s important to remember that there is no single “silver bullet” solution that can address every cyber threat your business faces. There are too many different kinds of cybersecurity threats out there for any one piece of technology to provide complete protection.

As such, it’s important to create a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy to protect your business’ most sensitive data—one that covers the biggest cybersecurity threats to your business.

But, what are the top cyber threats to your business? Here’s a list of cyber security threats that most businesses contend with on a daily basis—whether they realize it or not:

Cybersecurity Threat #1: The Inside Man (Or Woman)

The single biggest cyber threat to any organization is that organization’s own employees. According to data cited by Securitymagazine.com, “Employees are still falling victim to social attacks. Financial pretexting and phishing represent 98 percent of social incidents and 93 percent of all breaches investigated.” That’s right, a whopping 93% of all the data breaches investigated in the report cited could be traced back to an employee.

While some “insider” attacks are the result of employees intentionally misusing their user credentials, many are the result of employees making some simple mistakes—such as falling for phishing attempts, visiting malware-laden websites, bringing compromised USB drives or other personal devices to work, or sharing their user credentials with someone else.

There are a few things that organizations can do to minimize their cybersecurity risks from insider threats, including:

Implementing a Policy of Least Privilege. By limiting each employee’s access to only the specific resources they need to do their job, organizations can minimize the impact of a breach that occurs when an employee account is misused.

Instituting a BYOD Policy. Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies help set the ground rules for if (and how) employees can use personal devices at work. These rules can help protect a business from being compromised by unprotected personal devices.

Providing Cybersecurity Risk Training. An informed employee is less likely to fall victim to a phishing attack or other cyber threat than an uninformed one. Providing training in common cybersecurity risks can do a lot to improve your “human firewall” and keep employees from compromising your cybersecurity.