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FINAL WORD
How honest
employees
become
criminals
The incidents in information
security might occur due to the fault
of the most respectable employees,
according to Jorina van Rensburg,
Managing Director at Condyn.
W
e have been working on the development of corporate
systems to prevent information leakage – DLP (Data Loss
Prevention) – for more than 12 years. And employees may
not be willing to make some extra money illegally, to take revenge
on someone, to access the client base to start their own business.
The reasons why they fall prey to data breach and further suspicion
of malicious intent are the neglect of information security rules,
excessive trust in colleagues’ integrity and mere recklessness.
According to an Intel Security study, slightly more than half of
information leaks take place due to outsider attacks, while 43%
of troubles are caused by the employees. Intruders usually look for
information about clients (34%), while employees get responsible
for leaking data about their colleagues, less often exposing the client
base (25%). Statistics show that insider information loss happens
unintentionally more than often.
The motives of employees who leak confidential data deliberately
are understandable – revenge or profit. When it comes to respectable
employees, it turns out to be more complicated. Having analysed the
incidents, we came to the conclusion that all "good" employees, who
cause trouble, can be divided into three groups.
1. Innocent victims
This group includes unsuspecting employees intentionally framed by
one of the colleagues.
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