01/25/2022 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/25/2022 04:17
Negligent insiders are the root cause of 56% of incidents while credential thefts have almost doubled and are the costliest to remediate, at an average of over $800,000 per incident
SUNNYVALE, Calif., January 25, 2022 - Proofpoint, Inc., a leading cybersecurity and compliance company, today released its 2022 Cost of Insider Threats Global Reportto identify the costs and trends associated with negligent, compromised, and malicious insiders. Notably, on average, impacted organizations spent $15.4 million annually on overall insider threat remediation and took 85 days to contain each incident.
The Report, independently conducted by Ponemon Institute, is issued every 2 years and now in its fourth edition. It surveyed over 1,000 IT and IT security practitioners across North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Each organization included in the study experienced one or more material events caused by an insider. The Report reveals that over the last two years, the frequency and costs associated with insider threats have increased dramatically across all three insider threat categories, including: careless or negligent employees/contractors, criminal or malicious insiders, and cybercriminal credential theft.
"Months of sustained remote and hybrid working leading up to "The Great Resignation" has resulted in an increased risk around insider threat incidents, as people leave organizations and take data with them," said Ryan Kalember, executive vice president of cybersecurity strategy at Proofpoint. "In addition, organizational insiders, including employees, contractors, and third-party vendors, are an attractive attack vector for cybercriminals due to their far-reaching access to critical systems, data, and infrastructure. With people now the new perimeter, we recommend layered defenses, including a dedicated insider threat management solution and strong security awareness training, to provide the best protection against these types of risks."
This year's 2022 Cost of Insider Threats Global Reportkey findings include:
Five signs that your organization is at risk:
Dr. Larry Ponemon, Chairman and Founder of the Ponemon Institute commented: "Insider threats continue to climb, both in frequency and remediation cost. That said, we are seeing the risk of malicious insider threats increase - with more users accessing business data from outside the confines of the office. This can blur the security team's ability to identify and differentiate between well-meaning employees, and malicious insiders trying to siphon sensitive business data."
To download the 2022Cost of Insider Threats Global Report, please visit: https://www.proofpoint.com/us/resources/threat-reports/cost-of-insider-threats
To download the report infographic, please visit: https://www.proofpoint.com/us/resources/infographics/ponemon-cost-of-insider-threats-report
To register for our webinar "Insider Threats Are On the Rise: A Live Discussion with the Ponemon Institute", please visit: https://www.proofpoint.com/us/resources/webinars/insider-threats-are-rise-live-discussion-ponemon-institute
Methodology:
The Report surveyed organizations in North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific with a global headcount of 500 to more than 75,000 over a two-month period concluding in September 2021. In this year's study, we interviewed 1,004 IT and IT security practitioners in 278 organizations that experienced one or more material events caused by an insider. A total of 6,803 insider incidents are represented in this research.
For more information on insider threat management, please visit: https://www.proofpoint.com/us/products/information-protection/insider-threat-management
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About Proofpoint, Inc.
Proofpoint, Inc. is a leading cybersecurity and compliance company that protects organizations' greatest assets and biggest risks: their people. With an integrated suite of cloud-based solutions, Proofpoint helps companies around the world stop targeted threats, safeguard their data, and make their users more resilient against cyberattacks. Leading organizations of all sizes, including more than half of the Fortune 1000, rely on Proofpoint for people-centric security and compliance solutions that mitigate their most critical risks across email, the cloud, social media, and the web. More information is available at www.proofpoint.com.
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