Why Should Organizations Make Preventing Insider Breaches a Top Priority?

“If you organization didn’t observe a proportional increase in attempted or actual data loss, then you were likely not looking.”~ Insider Risk Report, DTEX, 2022

The Ponemon Institute declared that insider-related incidents have sky-rocketed 44 percent from 2020 to 2022. And their cost per incident ballooned more than a third to $15.38 million. However, the DTEX Insider Risk Report claims that those numbers are actually much higher: a 72 percent rise insider incidents, but could not put a figure to the cost. Regardless of the actual tally, there appears to be no question that security incidents initiated from inside an organization have risen drastically.

Most organizations continue to focus cyber and data security efforts on externals threats—the mysterious outsider lurking in the ether. But very real threats lie with those who possess legitimate access to company networks and data—third-party vendors and employees. The DTEX report makes a sobering statement: 100 percent of users are risks. That means everyone in an organization is a risk. This isn’t to say that all employees or vendors harbor intent to deceive. Most breach cases are triggered by negligence or lack of knowledge than malicious acts. But this perspective—everyone is a potential risk—highlights the importance of insider security measures.

48% of data breaches in healthcare facilities are caused by insiders.

Unfortunately addressing insider threats was at the bottom of six-item priority list for many organizations—at 33 percent. Perhaps organization would move internal threats higher on their lists if they better understood the nature of internal risks—and realize that not only is every staff member a risk, but the degree of risk bears no weight on job position rank, department, years in service.