European CISOs are locked in what appears to be a never-ending
battle against cyber threats. But for many, this campaign is mainly
by perceptions of external risks – attempts to breach organisations’
security from the outside. There certainly are pronounced threats
from cyberspace: ransomware, advanced persistent threats (APTs),
targeted attacks, state-sponsored operatives and highly organised
international cyber gangs.
But insider threats—from the employees within an organisation—
have long been underestimated, despite being the most reputation
damaging and financially destructive security risks. Worse,
traditional security measures that target external attempts to
access your network can’t prevent insider threats nor can they
defend against traditional hacking methods. Protecting the human
point, where data is accessed by users and is therefore at its most
vulnerable, is the key to protecting critical data.
Given that the European General Data Protection Regulation
(GDPR) will come into effect in May of 2018, the clock is ticking
for European organisations – they must be able to defend against
insiders threats and data breaches. The GDPR will not only require
organisations to notify supervising authorities and the targeted
individual a breach within 72-hours, but will also levy strict
penalties of up to 4% of worldwide annual turnover for serious
failings. There has been little in the way of comprehensive, Europewide
research investigating this difficult and pressing challenge in
greater detail.
That is precisely why Forcepoint™ commissioned an independent
survey of more than 4,000 office workers across the UK, France,
Germany and Italy – to better understand attitudes toward data
protection and the number of insider threats, both malicious and
accidental, facing organisations within these EU member states.
Source: Forcepoint
