Insider threats continue to threaten organizations across the globe

ObserveIT, the leading insider threat management provider with more than 1,700 customers around the world, released a study, commissioned with Ponemon Institute, that uncovered the direct and indirect costs associated with insider threats.

“Insider threats continue to threaten organizations across the globe, ultimately resulting in loss of mission-critical data, downtime and lost productivity, and even reputational damage,” said ObserveIT CEO, Mike McKee. “Understanding the growing costs and time associated with preventing and managing insider threats, organizations need to invest in a holistic cybersecurity solution to assist with real-time detection, deterrence, education and prevention.”

Key findings
* Since 2016, the average number of incidents, involving an employee or a contractor negligence, has increased by 26 percent, and by 53 percent, for criminal and malicious insiders. The average number of credential theft incidents has more than doubled over the past two years.

* The majority of respondents (64 percent) cited that the negligent insider is the root of most incidents.

* Credential risk is the costliest type of insider incident at an average of $648,745 per event.

* Large organizations with a headcount of more than 75,000 spent an average of $20 million over the past year to resolve insider-related incidents while smaller organizations with a headcount below 500 spent an average of $1.8 million.

* Asia-Pacific and European and Middle Eastern (EMEA) companies had lower annualized costs to contain insider-related incidents at $5.88 and $7.04 million, respectively, compared to North American companies.