A new study conducted by CloudLock has revealed an overwhelming amount of corporate cyber risk can be traced back to a small minority of employees.
CloudLock’s comprehensive analysis of 10 million users found that an estimated 25% of employees, both rank-and-file and executive level, were responsible for sharing “plain-text passwords, sharing files, accidentally downloading malware, clicking on phishing links, using risky applications, reusing passwords, and engaging in other types of dangerous behaviors.” Employees that engage in online activities, such as downloading applications or sharing files, can potentially open their corporate network to cyber criminals. It only takes one user to compromise an entire network to malicious malware that can cause an enormous amount of damage.
In order to mitigate the risk created by particularly active users companies need to identify employees engaging in risky behavior and curtail their online activity. Managers’ responses can range from simply notifying the employee of the dangers of their online activity to cutting off access to cloud based applications entirely.
CSO has the whole story and the rest of the findings.