Survey: Majority Of Companies Lack Transparency Needed To Prevent Insider Threats

  • May 12, 2009

Despite a renewed focus on governance and transparency, a recent survey from SailPoint Technologies revealed a disconnect between regulatory compliance and proactive risk management.

This second Market Pulse Survey, conducted in April, focused on how companies are approaching identity governance during the economic downturn, with a particular focus on "insider threats." While 86 percent of the total respondents are concerned about insider threats, they cannot adequately manage the risk of data breaches because the majority of them can't summarize which workers have access to the most critical applications and data.

Massive layoffs are occurring as companies undertake cost-cutting measures, as well as corporate restructuring in the form of mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures. The magnitude of corporate churn on a global scale, compounded by restricted IT budgets and strained resources, has created a perfect storm for fraud and theft from employees in the affected industries.

Many organizations are trying to mitigate this insider threat risk. In fact, 77 percent of the companies SailPoint surveyed have a risk management function within their IT organization. However, nearly 30 percent of those companies don't allocate budget to that function. That means nearly 50 percent of the affected companies either do not have, or underfund, their IT risk management activities.

A quarter of the respondents were from the banking and financial services industries, evenly split across North America and Europe. All of these companies are concerned about insider threats, with 30 percent saying they're "very concerned." Within the healthcare and insurance companies who responded, 99 percent are concerned about insider threats.

The SailPoint survey also revealed a consistent struggle companies face when managing user access controls for large populations of employees, partners and customers. Of the 125 respondents, 28 percent noted they lack critical access controls and could be more exposed to security breaches than they think. Another 20 percent believe it's simply a matter of time before an internal breach occurs at their company.

"The survey showed that companies lack the necessary transparency to adequately manage worker access to sensitive data and applications," said Jackie Gilbert, SailPoint's vice president of marketing and cofounder. "Since we conducted our first survey last November, close to half of our respondents have undergone major layoffs. In light of this heightened risk, 'what you don't know' can have real consequences on businesses, and executives are starting to realize that. Our survey clearly showed that executives are rightfully concerned, and I suspect we'll see a more disciplined risk management approach for user access control in the coming months."

The survey results can be viewed at http://sailpoint.com/resources/files/2009-market-survey-report.pdf.

Featured

  • Survey: 48 Percent of Worshippers Feel Less Safe Attending In-Person Services

    Almost half (48%) of those who attend religious services say they feel less safe attending in-person due to rising acts of violence at places of worship. In fact, 39% report these safety concerns have led them to change how often they attend in-person services, according to new research from Verkada conducted online by The Harris Poll among 1,123 U.S. adults who attend a religious service or event at least once a month. Read Now

  • AI Used as Part of Sophisticated Espionage Campaign

    A cybersecurity inflection point has been reached in which AI models has become genuinely useful in cybersecurity operation. But to no surprise, they can used for both good works and ill will. Systemic evaluations show cyber capabilities double in six months, and they have been tracking real-world cyberattacks showing how malicious actors were using AI capabilities. These capabilities were predicted and are expected to evolve, but what stood out for researchers was how quickly they have done so, at scale. Read Now

  • Why the Future of Video Security Is Happening Outside the Cloud

    For years, the cloud has captivated the physical security industry. And for good reasons. Remote access, elastic scalability and simplified maintenance reshaped how we think about deploying and managing systems. Read Now

  • UL Solutions Launches Artificial Intelligence Safety Certification Services

    UL Solutions Inc., a global leader in safety science, today announced the launch of artificial intelligence (AI) safety certification services, enabling comprehensive assessments for evaluating the safety of AI-powered products. Read Now

  • ESA Announces Initiative to Introduce the SECURE Act in State Legislatures

    The Electronic Security Association (ESA), the national voice for the electronic security and life safety industry, has announced plans to introduce the SECURE Act in state legislatures across the country beginning in 2025. The proposal, known as Safeguarding Election Candidates Using Reasonable Expenditures, provides a clear framework that allows candidates and elected officials to use campaign funds for professional security services. Read Now

    • Guard Services
Most   Popular

New Products

  • FEP GameChanger

    FEP GameChanger

    Paige Datacom Solutions Introduces Important and Innovative Cabling Products GameChanger Cable, a proven and patented solution that significantly exceeds the reach of traditional category cable will now have a FEP/FEP construction.

  • A8V MIND

    A8V MIND

    Hexagon’s Geosystems presents a portable version of its Accur8vision detection system. A rugged all-in-one solution, the A8V MIND (Mobile Intrusion Detection) is designed to provide flexible protection of critical outdoor infrastructure and objects. Hexagon’s Accur8vision is a volumetric detection system that employs LiDAR technology to safeguard entire areas. Whenever it detects movement in a specified zone, it automatically differentiates a threat from a nonthreat, and immediately notifies security staff if necessary. Person detection is carried out within a radius of 80 meters from this device. Connected remotely via a portable computer device, it enables remote surveillance and does not depend on security staff patrolling the area.

  • 4K Video Decoder

    3xLOGIC’s VH-DECODER-4K is perfect for use in organizations of all sizes in diverse vertical sectors such as retail, leisure and hospitality, education and commercial premises.