Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 10 | Page 57

INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Enterprise Security Organisations not prepared for malicious insiders, says Mimecast M imecast, an email and data security company, released new data* revealing that organisations globally believe they are their own worst enemy when it comes to cyber security, with 45% saying they are ill-equipped to cope with the threat of malicious insiders and twice as many, 90%, calling malicious insiders a major threat to the organisations’ security. Mimecast initially found as part of its Business Email Threat Report: Email Security Uncovered that 65% of IT security decision makers globally feel their email security systems are inadequately equipped to handle cyber threats; and, this new data makes it clear that malicious insiders represent a major and growing source of this risk and anxiety over security preparedness. www.intelligentcio.com By concentrating predominately on perimeter defence and outside threats, organisations around the world struggle with the risk that comes from their own people, emphasising the need for organisations to implement employee awareness and education as well as creating a cyber resilience strategy that includes both technology- and human- based defences. This is evident especially considering this study revealed that nearly half of the organisations polled felt exposed to malicious insider attacks. Mimecast’s research also uncovered that: • Over half (53%) of IT security decision makers view malicious insiders as a moderate or high threat to their organisation. • One in seven IT security decision makers view malicious insiders as their number one threat. • Those who say they’re very equipped on cyber security feel virtually just as vulnerable to insider threats as those who believe they aren’t equipped at all (16 percent vs. 17%), indicating that the risk of malicious insiders trumps perceptions of security confidence. “Organisations of all sizes struggle with the risks that are posed by employees being targeted by adversaries to launch and execute attacks to gain access to data or funds,” said Brandon Bekker, Managing Director, Mimecast MEA. “Every day, we trust employees with sensitive information and powerful tools, but we don’t give them the INTELLIGENTCIO 57