"Know thy enemy" is part of a famous quote from Sun Tzu in "The Art of War." The famous Chinese book has been used by military leaders and corporate executives alike to inspire battle tactics and competitive business strategies for hundreds of years. Now, the text, and that quote can be used to look at the IT channel and cyber security.
While companies need to be ready for attacks from the outside, they also need to make sure they understand the larger threat: their own employees. This does not mean that every worker is looking to steal business secrets and sell them to the highest bidder. In many cases, there is no malicious intent, but rather just employees trying to get a task done and going around security protocols to do it.
A recent survey from Voltage Security found that 46 percent of employees have gone around a security policy to obtain information in order to complete a task or make a sale. Another report from Clearswift found that 33 percent of security incidents were caused by current employees. Company senior vice president Guy Bunker spoke with CITEworld about the findings.
"One of the things people don't think about when they impose various policies is that employees will just try other approaches to get whatever it is done," Bunker said. "The speed at which technology is moving and being driven by the consumer with their devices means that organizations are left running trying to keep up with the changes and with the ways these technologies can be used – and abused."
IT Principals need to make sure that every security policy matches up with business strategies, or otherwise employees will find a way around it. VARs and MSPs that have partnered with VAR Staffing and the impactful talent it offers can help any company examine its security protocols and make sure everything clicks.
