LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Egress Insider Data Breach Survey 2021 has revealed that an overwhelming 94% of organizations have experienced insider data breaches in the last year. Human error was the top cause of serious incidents, according to 84% of IT leaders surveyed. However, IT leaders are more concerned about malicious insiders, with 28% indicating that intentionally malicious behavior is their biggest fear. Despite causing the most incidents, human error came bottom of the list, with just over one-fifth (21%) saying that its their biggest concern.

Additionally, almost three-quarters (74%) of organizations have been breached because of employees breaking security rules, and 73% have been the victim of phishing attacks.

The survey, independently conducted by Arlington Research on behalf of Egress, surveyed 500 IT leaders and 3,000 employees in the US and UK across vertical sectors including financial services, healthcare and legal.

Key insights include:

Empowering insiders to do the right thing

The research revealed that an overwhelming 97% of employees would report an insider data breach to their employer which is reassuring for the 55% of IT leaders who rely primarily on employees to report incidents. However, when employees do speak up about breaches, it can cost them: the research found that 89% of incidents lead to repercussions for the employees involved, including informal and formal warnings, and dismissal.

In addition, just 54% of employees said that they feel their organizations security culture trusts and empowers them, indicating that many organizations lack a security-positive culture.

The risks of hybrid working: a difference in opinion

The biggest driver for change in insider risk over the last year has been the adoption of long-term remote working due to the pandemic. Over half (56%) of IT leaders believe that remote work has driven an increase in data breaches caused by human error. Meanwhile, employees disagree, with 61% believing that remote work makes them less, or equally, as likely to cause a data breach.

IT leaders are also concerned for the future, with 54% indicating that they believe that remote/hybrid working will make it more difficult to prevent data breaches caused by human error. Half of IT leaders also believe that it will make it more difficult to prevent phishing attacks, and 49% believe that it will be more difficult to prevent employees from breaking the rules if theyre working remotely in the future.

Egress CEO Tony Pepper comments: Insider risk is every organizations most complex vulnerability and it has far-reaching consequences, from ransomware attacks to loss of client trust. Organizations must act now to mitigate the risk posed by their people.

The research highlights the importance of empowering employees they want to protect their employers data, and its up to organizations to ensure that theyre building a security-positive culture. With the right technology and strategy in place, organizations can transform their people from their biggest security vulnerability into their strongest line of defense.

Methodology

The Insider Breach Report 2021 was independently conducted by Arlington Research on behalf of Egress, surveyed 500 IT leaders and 3,000 employees in the US and UK across vertical sectors including financial services, healthcare and legal.

About Egress

Our mission is to eliminate the most complex cybersecurity challenge every organization faces: insider risk. We understand that people get hacked, make mistakes, and break the rules. To prevent these human-activated breaches, we have built the only Human Layer Security platform that defends against inbound and outbound threats. Using patented contextual machine learning we detect and prevent abnormal human behavior such as misdirected emails, data exfiltration and targeted spear-phishing attacks.

Used by the worlds biggest brands, Egress is private equity backed and has offices in London, New York and Boston.

Read the rest here:
94% Of Organizations Have Suffered Insider Data Breaches, Egress Research Reveals - Business Wire