Is your business at risk of an insider cyber-attack?
Many business owners – and the IT professionals they rely on – focus on protecting their companies from external threats:
- the lone hacker out for a large ransom
- the industry competitor pilfering secrets
- organized cyber-criminals with sophisticated phishing schemes
But what about internal threats?
The Dangers of Internal Cyber Threats
Some organizations fail to consider the true risks that insiders pose to their cybersecurity. But internal risks are every bit as dangerous and damaging as the external ones, even if there is no malicious intent.
Did you know a quarter of all cyber attacks happen because of an insider threat?
The 2019 IBM Cost of Data Breach survey revealed that 24% of all data breaches in the past five years were the result of negligent employees or contractors.
Another report, Insider Data Breach Survey, found:
- 60% of executives felt employees who made mistakes while rushing to complete tasks were the primary cause of internal breaches.
- Another 44% pointed to a lack of general awareness as the second most common reason.
- 36% cited inadequate training for their organization’s security tools as a close third.
To drive home the full harm of insider threats, we’ve compiled four actual case studies of internal people who’ve wreaked financial and reputational damage when they got careless, or abused their knowledge and positions for personal gain.
Learn the top four internal cyber threats to your network now.
Top 4 Internal Cyber Threats to Your Network
Internal Cyber Threat #1: The Careless Employee
A report by a company’s chief security officer discovered that one of the organization’s techs was using duplicate credentials across multiple accounts and failed to set up two-factor authentication on at least two of his accounts.
The employee neglected to do two important cybersecurity best practices:
- Do not use the same log-in for more than one account
- Apply two-factor authentication for additional protection
This weak security enabled hackers to easily infiltrate the company’s network where they disabled and deleted all data backups – local and cloud. After sabotaging the organization’s backups, the hackers then installed ransomware and demanded payment. Without a usable backup, the company was forced to pay the ransom to recover its data.
What You Can Do
- Set up automatic scans to check each client’s security settings on each machine to ensure that your IT security policies are being enforced.
- Generate an automatic alert when two-factor authentication is not turned on where it should be.
Internal Cyber Threat #2: The Sneaky Former Employee
Former employees take your proprietary information with them when they leave. Unfortunately, some of them decide to appropriate that information.
In a case study, an engineer quit his job to start his own business that would be in direct competition with the company he left. According to court documents, the engineer hacked his former company’s server using a former co-worker’s stolen credentials.
Once inside the network, he was able to retrieve AutoCAD files, design schematics, project proposals, and budgetary documents – all information that could provide a competitive advantage over his former employer. The value attributed to proprietary information he stole was between $250,000 and $550,000.
For his efforts, the engineer was sentenced to 18 months in prison and two years of supervised release.
What You Can Do
- Establish “exit procedures” for employee turn-over that includes the immediate removal of ex-employees from Active Directory.
- Scan the network daily for suspicious log-in attempts by ex-employees and others, and generate an alert for each incident.
Internal Cyber Threat #3: The Compromised Third-Party Vendor
An “insider” doesn’t have to be located directly within your walls to become a threat to your network. Trusted third-party vendors may have enough access to your data to be unknowing conduits for external hackers and do damage to your network.
In one scenario, a hacker infiltrated a billing collections agency and gained access to patient information that belonged to one of the agency’s clients: a healthcare laboratory.
Almost 12 million patient records were compromised, including credit card numbers and other personal identifying information. A security firm that tracks compromised data found 200,000 patient payment details from the billing company for sale on the dark web.
Fortunately, the lab had insurance in place to cover some of the potential cost and liability as a result of the HIPAA violation.
What You Can Do
- Set up internal IT security policies that limit storage of credit card and other personal identifying information.
- Only grant access to select employees with security clearance levels.
- Regularly scan the network for any suspicious log-in attempts and generate alerts to investigate.
Internal Cyber Threat #4: Software and Devices
Out-of-date devices and software typically do not receive critical security updates, rendering them accessible to hackers.
In one instance, a massive cyber attack penetrated a software vendor’s IT management systems through a legacy IP scanner tool and compromised an unknown number of end-user client servers.
Some clients had administrative superuser accounts created within their Windows active directory, so unidentified intruders had full access to their systems and data long before detection.
More than two months after the attack, the full extent of the damage was still unknown.
What You Can Do
- Scan all networks daily for software that is missing the latest security patches.
- Generate alerts for machines that need updating.
Protect Your Network With Third Power IT, Miami’s Most Trusted IT Consultants
As a reputable MSP, we understand cybersecurity and its significance to your business.
At Third Power IT, we provide cyber threat detection and protection that can accommodate networks of any size. Our specialized security software runs a daily check on your network and alerts us immediately when it detects potential cyber attacks.
Get the protection you need now. Call us at 844-677-3687 or visit www.ThirdPowerIT.com.
Sources:
- Cost of a Data Breach, IBM, 2019
- Insider Data Breach Survey 2019, egress, 2020
The post Miami IT Consultants Talk the Top 4 Internal Cyber Threats To Your Network appeared first on Third Power IT – Managed IT Services.
Courtesy of Miami IHIPAA Compliance IT Company - ThirdPowerIT.com
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