Don't be your own worst enemy: protecting your organisation from inside threats

Abstract

Cyber-security spending is at an all-time high and shows no signs of letting up – the global market hit $75bn in 2015 and is set to increase to $170bn by 2020. 1 And this shouldn't come as a surprise. Cybercrime is on the rise, with theft of ‘hard’ intellectual property alone increasing by 56% just last year. 2 With each data breach costing a victimised organisation an average of $4m – not to mention the jarring impact on reputation and customer trust – it is no wonder that organisations are throwing so much money at the problem. 3 Most data breaches are not the result of an external attack by some cybercrime mastermind. In fact, only a quarter of data breaches are attributed to external hacks. The vast majority of breaches are enabled by insider leaks, whether intentional or the result of seemingly innocent events, such as the loss of a corporate phone or clicking on phishing or malware. And inside jobs can be just as devastating as external ones. Jamie Tyler of CenturyLink explains how organisations must protect their data using a two-pronged approach that combines training and technology.