Half of organizations have experienced operational disruptions or outages related to insider threats, and nearly as many (48%) have lost critical data to them. Thirty-seven percent have experienced brand damage, 26% have lost revenue, and 25% have lost a competitive edge to insider threats. 

The "2020 Insider Threat Report," commissioned by Cyberhaven and conducted by Cybersecurity Insiders, found that 42% of businesses say collaboration and communication apps are most vulnerable to insider threats, followed by cloud storage and file sharing apps (39%) and financial apps (37%). Most insider threats affect customer data (61%), the most commonly targeted information followed by financial data (54%) and intellectual property (53%).

Detecting and preventing insider threats is tougher than it was a year ago, respondents say. Most (61%) say this is because insiders already have credentialed access to the network and services. More than half (52%) point to increased use of applications that can leak data, such as email and social media, and 45% blame an increased amount of data exiting the organization.

The greatest contributor to insider threats is a lack of employee training and awareness, 58% of respondents indicate. Insufficient data protection (51%) is another driver, tied with the growing number of devices that access sensitive data. Unstructured data, such as presentations and business files, is the type of information most difficult to protect, 52% of respondents say.

Read the full report here.

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