The biggest threats to security are sitting next to you
Survey finds that careless employees, accidents account for most data losses
- By Kevin McCaney
- Apr 16, 2010
Information technology administrators rightly worry about outside threats to their networks and information, but they say the biggest threats come from inside, often as a result of accidents or carelessness by employees.
A recent survey by Forrester Consulting, commissioned by Microsoft and RSA, backs up those fears. Forrester surveyed 305 high-level IT decision-makers worldwide, asking them, among other things, what types of security breaches they had experienced. Nearly 58 percent of the incidents were the result of an employee losing a computing device or accidentally posting sensitive information. A sample of the results:
Click for larger image. Source: Forrester Consulting
About the Author
Kevin McCaney is a former editor of Defense Systems and GCN.