Personal data remains attractive for malicious actors and cybercriminals. As they evolve their methods for stealing and compromising such data, implementing sufficient data protection measures is especially vital for any organization. In some industries, protecting personal data is a must to comply with privacy laws and regulations. But even if your organization is not subject to a particular data privacy requirement, it’s highly recommended to secure the data of your customers and employees.

Many enterprises perceive cyber-attacks as malicious actions predominantly executed by external actors. Enterprises devote time and budgets investing in methods to bolster their security perimeters against external threat actors. However, it is equally important for these organizations to remember that many cyber-attacks, which cost millions in losses, originate through an internal compromise.

In Q3 2022, Kroll saw insider threat peak to its highest quarterly level to date, accounting for nearly 35% of all unauthorized access threat incidents. Kroll also observed a number of malware infections via USB this quarter, potentially pointing to wider external factors that may encourage insider threat, such as an increasingly fluid labor market and economic turbulence.

Intellectual property (IP) is crucial for manufacturing organizations to compete in the market. At the same time, IP may be a target for dishonest competitors, former employees, and cybercriminals. That's why it's vital to take all possible measures to protect the security of intellectual property in the manufacturing sector.

Early in the pandemic, searches related to “how to monitor employees working from home” increased by 1,705%. Without the oversight of managers in an office setting, many companies are concerned that their employees are less productive, and that there is an increase risk to the company. This is a major reason why the use of employee monitoring technology has soared in the past year.

The increasing digitalization and interconnectivity of the manufacturing industry has fundamentally changed how this sector operates. With automation, remote diagnostics, and connections to the internet, manufacturers have faced a growing number of cybersecurity challenges, including insider risks.

Despite the ongoing rise in social engineering attacks, the idea that cybersecurity is only about technology manifests within most of our minds. Organizations often neglect human behavior's impact on their cybersecurity postures. Instead, they spend lavishly on endpoint security tools, threat hunting programs, and building incident response plans. Admittedly, these security measures are a crucial part of mitigating attacks.

As National Insider Threat Awareness Month draws to a close, Egnyte is taking this opportunity to reinforce everyday best practices that companies like yours need to follow. The goal of the month is to educate U.S. government and industry leaders about the risks of insider threats and how to effectively address them.

Apart from external attackers, organizations need to consider another type of threat when planning their cybersecurity strategy: insider threats. There are different types of insiders. On the one hand, there are people who have secret knowledge and unintentionally create risk openings within an organization; and on the other, there are others who intend to cause harm, motivated by profit, extortion, or personal grievance. This means insiders can be classified as follows.

People have become the primary attack vector for cyber attackers around the world. As the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report 2022 indicates, it is humans rather than technology that now represent the greatest risk to organizations. According to the SANS 2022 Security Awareness Report, the top three security risks that security professionals are concerned about are phishing, business email compromise (BEC) and ransomware, all closely related to human behavior.