E-Crime Experts Say ëEnemy Withiní Is Biggest Threat to Corporate Security

75% of respondents at e-Crime Congress hold the Board ultimately responsible for web security breaches

WHAT:
An international survey of over 110 respondents from twenty countries, conducted by Websense during the recent E-Crime Congress in London, has revealed that 45% of e-crime experts see the biggest threat to an organisations data comes from inside the company.

Only 11% thought external threats such as hackers and organised cyber-crime, posed the biggest threat and remaining 44% of respondents thought that internal and external sources were equally problematic.

However, despite the consensus that employees pose the highest security risk only 10% of respondents thought employees were ultimately responsible for a web security breach. The majority, 74%, feel the Board is ultimately responsible while 21% feel the responsibility lies with the IT department.

More worrying is the fact that only 8% feel the ëaverageí company is taking a proactive approach to security.

COMMENT:

ìWith so many attacks from the outside, itís easy to forget that security can be breached within the four walls of your company. The ëthreat from withiní is more often than not totally unintentional and employees are breaching security unwittingly. With cyber-crime being socially engineered to look real, duping unsuspecting users is the aim. Business must have robust policies that automate security so that this responsibility doesnít lie in the hands of the user.î

ìWith 74% of the respondents seeing the Board as ultimately responsible for web security, itís an important task to educate the Board to take web security seriously and automation is the first step into defence in-depth.î

Mark Murtagh, Technical Director EMEA for Websense


About the Sample
The sample size of this international research was 112 respondents from 20 countries. Respondents were amongst the 400 who attended the E-crime Congress on the 30th & 31st March 2006.

These would have included: government figures, public sector representatives and senior officers and managers within law enforcement agencies as well as industry.

Contacts:

For a full overview of the research results, please contact Helen Ablett at Helena@gbc.co.uk