Security / How Cloud, BYOD Strategies Create Insider Threats

How Cloud, BYOD Strategies Create Insider Threats

By Gina Roos | Posted 2016-10-13

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How Cloud, BYOD Strategies Create Insider Threats

Although adoption of the cloud and BYOD practices is generally perceived as positive for businesses, these shifts can fuel insider threats, a poll of cyber-security pros finds.
Big Threats

One in three organizations have experienced an insider attack in the last year, and 74% feel vulnerable to insider threats.
More Leaks

56% of organizations believe insider leaks have increased in the last year.
A Big Problem

66% of respondents said preventing insider attacks is more difficult than protecting against external threats.
User Behavior and Data Leaks

One-third of organizations said careless or malicious user behavior resulted in data leakage, up slightly from a year ago.
Big Concerns

71% of respondents are most concerned with inadvertent leaks that are the result of unsanctioned app usage, unintended external sharing and unsecured mobile devices. Other concerns include negligence (68%) and malicious insiders (61%).
Privileged Users

60% of organizations said privileged users, more than any other user group, posed the greatest security risk.
Employee Leaks

Cyber-security professionals believe a lack of employee training (62%) is the biggest cause of many insider leaks, followed by insufficient data protection solutions (57%), more devices with access to sensitive data (54%) and more data leaving the network perimeter (48%).
Lacking Analytics

56% of organizations use some kind of analytics solution to address anomalous behavior, but only 15% have user behavior analytics in place and only 8% use predictive analytics. One-third do not have any analytics solutions to detect insider threats.
Vulnerable Apps

Collaboration tools (44%) were perceived as the most vulnerable to insider threats, followed by cloud storage apps (39%), finance and accounting (39%), social media (34%), custom business apps (33%), and productivity apps (28%).
Detecting Insider Threats

64% of organizations can detect a breach within a week, up from 42% a year ago. Only 23% take a month or longer to identify insider breaches.
Best Prevention Tools

Policies and training (57%), identity and access management solutions (52%), encryption (50%) and data leakage prevention (49%) topped the list of the best tools for preventing insider attacks.
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Two of the biggest reasons businesses continue to struggle with insider threats are the adoption of cloud computing technology and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) practices. A new survey reveals that nearly three-fourths of the organizations polled believe they are vulnerable to insider threats. Many of them point to an increase in devices with access to corporate data as a major contributor to the rise in insider leaks. Although the industry's adoption of cloud and BYOD is generally perceived as a positive trend for businesses, these shifts are having an impact on insider threats. The Bitglass Corporate Spies report, based on a survey more than 500 cyber-security professionals, finds that with the adoption of cloud and mobile devices, insiders have access to corporate data from any device and from anywhere. The problem is "careless" users who share sensitive data externally or lose a mobile device that contains sensitive data, according to Bitglass, which offers mobile security and cloud access security broker solutions. The companies at the greatest risk are those that don't have visibility and control over their data. Here's a look at key findings from the study.

Gina Roos is a business and technology writer who has contributed print and Web articles to leading electronic industry publications. She was Editor-in-Chief at Electronics Sourcing North America, and served as Site Editor for UBM's Green SupplyLine and Electronics Supply & Manufacturing Websites. She also authored the "In the Channel" column, covering the electronics distribution industry for EETimes ProductWeek. Gina was the founder and editor of Electronics Advocate, an online magazine covering design and supply chain issues in the electronics industry. The publication was sold to MMG Publishing UK in 2010. Gina has a degree in journalism.