IT Decision Makers' Biggest Fear: Privileged Users

As the IT industry continues to face growing security issues, amid announcements of security breaches at major retailers and banks in the past year, virtually all IT decision makers at financial services and retail organizations believe their organizations are vulnerable to insider threats, according to an online survey conducted by Harris Poll for Vormetric's 2015 Insider Threat Report. The study, based on a poll of 408 U.S. IT decision makers primarily at retail and financial companies, found that the biggest threats come from a variety of insider channels, including privileged users and the supply chain, such as contractors and service providers. In addition, disruptive technologies, such as the cloud and big data, are creating new risks to organizations with additional administrative roles. These findings show that organizations need to develop and prioritize their IT security strategies to protect their data and reduce their vulnerabilities. They also should make encryption with access controls the default, monitor and analyze data-access patterns, and replace point solutions with data security platforms, according to the report. Here are key takeaways from the report.