IT sector news
IT ‘insider snooping’ on the rise
15/6/2009Information security company Cyber-Ark has revealed that 35% of IT staff use their admin rights to access privileged corporate information such as customer databases, M&A plans, HR records and layoff lists. Cyber-Ark's 'Trust, Security & Passwords' is a survey of more than 400 senior IT professionals both in the US and UK, mainly from enterprise class companies.
There has been an increase in snooping since a year ago, which Cyber-Ark attributes to the global recession. In particular, the company has seen a sharp rise in the number of respondents saying that if they were fired, they would take proprietary data and information critical to maintaining competitive advantage and corporate security.
1 in 5 companies admit having experienced cases of insider sabotage or IT security fraud. Of those, 36% suspect that their competitors have received their company's highly sensitive information or intellectual property. 74% said that they could circumvent the security controls currently in place in order to access such information.
Udi Mokady, Cyber-Ark's CEO said, "While most employees claim that access to privileged accounts is monitored, employee snooping on sensitive information continues unabated. Unauthorised access to [such] information leaves a company vulnerable to financial or regulatory exposure and damage to its brand."
