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.
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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
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