Increasing Security Threats Open New Channel Opportunities - Dangers from Within
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Spammers have proven themselves to be unafraid of trying new methods of
spreading malware over the last three months, including an escalation in the
amount of spam being sent via social networking Web sites like Facebook and
Twitter, and Sophos says it expects to see this trend continue.
The fact that employees often access social networking sites while at work
can open corporate networks to a deluge of these spam-borne attacks and result
in viruses and data breaches as well as the more obvious policy violations.
Data breaches and policy violations were the subject of an Insight Express
study commissioned by Cisco that covered about 1,000 PC users and 1,000 IT
executives about their online behavior as it pertained to corporate data leaks
and online usage.
Nearly eight out of 10 PC users send and receive personal e-mail through a
personal account on a regular basis, and nearly half use their work computers
for personal research and online banking. This increases the risks of identity
theft and personal data loss, and can also open organizations up to compliance
violations.
"What we're seeing here is lots of security issues [being caused] not
necessarily from outside, but from within the small and medium
businesses," Keizer says. In addition, Keizer
says the economic downturn is having unintended security consequences.
"Lots of people are being let go as [organizations] downsize, and if
one of those people is a security technician, they can do a lot of damage to
your systems, especially if they're in any way disgruntled when they're let
go," Keizer says.
The Insight Express survey highlighted another worrying statistic that could
become more serious as companies downsize their work forces and let IT security
personnel go. Nearly one-half of respondents said they'd changed the security
settings on their work computer, and 35 percent said it "wasn't their
company's business" that those settings had been modified.
Education is key to making sure users understand the compliance implications
of policy violations, and a strictly enforced—even automated—Web access and use
policy can help curb flagrant violations.
Keizer says he believes there still much opportunity in the
space, and that a managed services approach to security can help shore up
customers' security while keeping costs down.
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