Senior Managers As The Insider Threat

[Audrey McNeil <audrey () riskbasedsecurity com>]

http://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/senior-managers-as-the-insider-threat/240165225

Don't just blame a low-level end user for the next data breach: New data
shows that senior managers are the biggest offenders of putting their
companies at risk of a data breach.

Nearly 90 percent send work to their personal email or cloud accounts
frequently or occasionally so they can work remotely, according to a new
survey by breach investigation and risk services firm Stroz Friedberg. And
58 percent admit to inadvertently sending the wrong recipient sensitive
company information, compared with 25 percent of all employees saying they
have done so.

More than half of senior managers and 37 percent of midlevel managers say
they have taken work-related emails, files, or other resources with them
when they have left an employer for another job. Low-level employees do
this less often -- 20 percent of the time, the survey of some 764
information workers in the U.S. found.

"Our inaugural information security survey demonstrates that companies need
to address high-risk security behaviors within the workplace at all levels
with a proactive risk mitigation plan," says Michael Patsalos-Fox, CEO of
Stroz Friedberg.

Senior management isn't very confident in its ability to respond to
threats, either. Some 52 percent of senior managers gave corporate America
a "C" grade or lower there, while 45 percent of them say they and the
C-suite are responsible for protecting their organizations. Meanwhile, some
54 percent of nonmanagement-level respondents say IT pros are in charge of
ensuring the proper protections from attack are in place.

Some 73 percent say they are worried attackers could steal their personal
information via the company network, and more than 60 percent gave U.S.
businesses a "C" or lower on protecting their information.

"The C-suite is responsible for making the right security investment
decisions, but beyond that, leadership needs to create a culture in which
all employees recognize their own responsibility for keeping information
secure," says Eric Friedberg, executive chairman of Stroz Friedberg.

User training appears to be a problem, the survey found: Thirty-five
percent of the respondents say they get regular training on mobile device
security, 37 percent on social media user, and 42 percent on
information-sharing best practices.

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