In fit of security businesses spend billion dollars in a quarter to protect their data from any kind of malicious cyber-attacks. Despite that these companies are facing internal data theft by their own employees.
That’s one of the findings in a survey published by management consultant Accenture and HfS Research.
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“Our research paints a sobering picture. Security leaders believe threats are not going away, in fact they expect them to increase and hinder their ability to safeguard critical data and establish digital trust,” said Kelly Bissell, senior managing director, Accenture Security. “At the same time, while organizations want to invest in advanced cyber technologies, they simply don’t have enough budget to recruit or train skilled people to use that technology effectively. To better manage this security problem, businesses will need to work in tandem with the extended enterprise ecosystem – business units, partners, providers and end users – to create an environment of digital trust.”
Cybersecurity teams are attempting to close the gaps, experimenting with advanced cognitive and other artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, while still struggling to find the security talent to execute on the basics effectively. Establishing digital trust, which is seen as crucial to competitive success, clearly requires a new mode of working, not simply incremental improvement
Data theft of corporate information by outsiders and the theft or corruption of personal information by corporate insiders dominate the discussion, with 35 per cent of respondents indicating they were strongly or critically concerned about these two threats over the past 12 months. But moving forward, overall data loss or destruction becomes a top rated concern, with 41 per cent of respondents indicating strong or critical concern over the coming 12 to 18 months.
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The threat sources of most concern to enterprise security professionals are private, well-organized teams, organized criminals, and state-sponsored professionals, with agendas of corporate espionage and the targeting of critical infrastructure as their main concerns.
Brand reputation and customer support are rated the most vulnerable business goals, with 43 per cent and 37 per cent (respectively) of respondents listing data security as critically important to supporting those efforts.
Cloud computing, a culture of cybersecurity awareness, and cloud storage are rated as the most important enterprise initiatives, while mobile tops the list of initiatives at risk, with 47 per cent of respondents listing a data breach or loss of service involving mobile as having the highest risk to the enterprise brand.
69 per cent of respondents have experienced an attempted or realized data theft or corruption by corporate insiders, with media and technology firms and enterprises in the Asia-Pacific region reporting the highest rates (77 per cent and 80 per cent respectively).
208 organizations surveyed, 69 per cent “experienced an attempted or realized data theft or corruption by corporate insiders” over the past 12 months, the survey found, compared to 57 per cent that experienced similar risks from external sources.
Media and technology firms, and enterprises in the Asia-Pacific region reported the highest rates — 77 per cent and 80 per cent, respectively.
“Everyone’s always known that part of designing security starts with thinking that your employees could be a risk but I don’t think anyone could have said it was quite that high,” Omar Abbosh, Accenture chief strategy officer, said in an interview, where he announced Accenture’s purchase of Maglan Information Defense & Intelligence Group, an Israeli security company.
Each year, businesses spend an estimated $84 billion to defend against data theft that costs them about $2 trillion — damage that could rise to $90 trillion a year by 2030 if current trends continue, Abbosh forecast. He recommended that corporations change their approach to cybersecurity by cooperating with competitors to develop joint strategies to outwit increasingly sophisticated cyber criminals.