Data breaches originated from insiders in 2018

As the world continues to grapple with the growing cases of cyber attacks, a new report from US-based Verizon Enterprise Solutions has revealed that 20 per cent of cybersecurity incidents and 15 per cent of the data breaches in 2018 originated from people within the organisation.

Insiders have advantages over external actors seeking to circumvent security as people within the organisation enjoy trust and privileges as well as knowledge of organisational policies, processes and procedures, said the Verizon Insider Threat Report.

“Cyber threats do not just originate from external sources, and to fight cybercrime in its entirety we also need to focus on the threats that lie within an organisation’s walls,” Bryan Sartin, Executive Director Security Professional Services, Verizon, said in a statement on Tuesday.

The report highlighted that organisations need to pay particular attention to the types of insider threats that they can face.

These threats can arise both from careless workers and also from those who were recruited, solicited or bribed by external parties to infiltrate data.

Employees or partners with access to corporate assets who use existing privileges to access information for personal gain can also be responsible for such threats.

Moreover, business partners who compromise security through negligence, misuse or malicious access to or use of an asset may also give rise to security threat, the report said.

Verizon Enterprise Solutions (VES), a leading provider of IT, communications, security and network solutions to enterprises and governments around the world, is a division of US telecom carrier Verizon Communications Inc.