We bang on and on about protecting your data by backing it up securely, installing firewalls and virus protection, using passwords and encryption and so on. But many companies completely forget about the risks posed by their own staff – what we call insider threat. And those outsiders interested in your data will find it much easier to recruit a disgruntled employee of yours than to hack in to your systems themselves. Sometimes all they have to do is check your employee’s Facebook or Twitter accounts to find out if they can be approached!
Insiders have a couple of advantages over outsiders. They’re trusted and they have legitimate access to the company’s systems. The malicious insider can download data and sell it or sabotage mission-critical applications.
Most companies are very vulnerable to insider threat, and need to put in controls across their systems which can flag data loss, changes to applications and so on.
The increasing use of employees’ own equipment on company systems, such as mobile phones and laptops, mean that the employer has to manage the risk very carefully if there is information worth stealing. And don’t think it is just big companies who have something worth stealing – every company has a client database and a price list.
If you operate in a very competitive sector or have highly confidential and sensitive data to protect please don’t hesitate to contact us for some advice. We can help you consider all the issues and make decisions. It’s technology without tears!
