Scott Nicholas
Forcepoint and the Ponemon Institute have released a cybersecurity study that discovered 91 percent of the 742 surveyed commercial and federal information technology operations and security managers predict an equal amount or continued growth of insider threats will be faced by their respective organizations.
Forcepoint said Tuesday the “Insecurity of Privileged Users” study compared data sets from 2011 and 2014 with the present day and noted 58 percent of respondents believe their respective organizations unnecessarily grant access to individuals.
Forty percent of the respondents blame social engineering as a method to obtain access rights and 70 percent of the experts said privileged users access sensitive or confidential data out of curiosity.
“The best approach to mitigating privileged user abuse is a comprehensive and layered approach that implements best practices, incorporates process and technology and most importantly, addresses the people behind the permissions,” said Michael Crouse, technical director of insider threat solutions at Forcepoint.
“Damage caused by privileged users is the most extensive, the hardest to mitigate and the most difficult to detect, as it is done by authorized users doing things they are authorized to do.”
Sixty-three percent of commercial and 75 percent of federal personnel do not possess contextual information required to prevent insider threats.
Forcepoint is a joint venture between Raytheon and Vista Equity Partners rebranded in January 2015 from the former Raytheon | Websense name that works with government agencies and private businesses on network security against internal and external threats.
