Data loss incidents don’t always involve deliberate malicious activities and are also caused by mistakes from careless users, who contribute to 70.6% of data theft instances – the highest among all data attacks, followed by 48.1% of compromised systems. For data loss, whether it is triggered by negligent behavior or vengeful intent, the result leads to severe consequences in either case.
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The Proofpoint threat report reveals only 1% of users are responsible for 88% of data loss. In organizations where workplaces are evolving and employees are joining, changing, or leaving jobs regularly, detecting 1% of threat actors is highly complex as their identity keeps changing every month or two.
Growing threats posed by ill-intent insiders carry significant risks of exploiting access to confidential data and exfiltrating vital documents. Such risks involve complications in identifying them and, if left ignored, they may lead to severe impact of disrupting operations and damaging reputations. It demands security teams to stay alert and respond ahead of potential threats to control the damage.
Let’s understand the likely reasons that trigger data attacks and disrupt operational efficiency in organizations.
What are the top reasons that cause data threats
Proofpoint survey indicates a marked growth in insider threats from 63% in 2019 to 78% in 2024, highlighting a greater awareness of malicious insiders. The incrementing threat landscape hints at an urgent need for organizations today to invest in advanced threat detection control to mitigate risks.
Lack of an effective security system
The absence of a robust security system reduces an organization’s ability to predict and prevent risks before they cause damage to data privacy and disrupt workplace compliance.
Teams not aligned with regulatory compliance
Unruly team actions disrupt workplace regulations, inviting hefty regulatory fines and causing significant harm to business trust.
Insiders with negligent behavior
Employees negligent in their behavior make mistakes, including not aligning with security rules, accessing risky apps, websites, or emails, or not masking critical data while processing that cause the most damage to organizational data integrity and regulatory compliance.
Proofpoint threat report highlights that 80% of industries face negative consequences due to increasing occurrences of data loss incidents. It indicates an urgent need for organizations to implement strong countermeasures and gain firm control over rising data threats.
Let’s discuss the impact of incrementing attacks and their negative outcomes for data-critical business operations.
What are the consequences of data loss incidents
Companies that experienced at least one incident reported negative outcomes, including confidential information shared with unauthorized persons, a breach of GDPR compliance, and revenue loss due to regulatory fines.
Disruptions to business operations
Proofpoint threat report indicates that 56.6% of organizations experience disruptions to operations caused by data attacks and workplace non-compliance, leading to inefficiencies at work and affecting business growth.
Impact on organizational trust and reputation
A breach of workplace compliance indicates a lack of business obligations toward industry regulations that invite substantial regulatory charges and cause a loss of business reputation.
Weakened competitive positioning
With workplace compliance and business trust at stake, it impacts an organization’s competitive positioning, disrupting growth and revenue opportunities.
Understanding what drives insiders to cause harm can be effective in devising a robust risk management strategy. Consider a dynamic shift in insider motives, including financial gains (55%), revenge (48%), and reputational damage (39%) that reflect a strong need for organizations to adopt a capable insider threat program, like workforce analytics in contact centers.
How wAnywhere AI security and compliance management can help
Unlock behavioral and predictive analytics from wAnywhere AI security and compliance management to detect subtle deviations and align employee actions. Let’s discover how you can achieve strong control over incrementing data attacks, capturing advanced insider threat intelligence with desktop tracking software.
Leverage predictive and behavioral analytics
Enable continuous monitoring to track how employees behave at work, whether their actions follow defined security rules in an organization, or what employee activities deviate from regulatory compliance so you can act ahead of threats and avoid potential damage.
Gain insider threat intelligence
Identify subtle changes in employee behavior working in data-sensitive roles and detect what their actions indicate risks to counter the potential threats and avoid challenges to data privacy and workplace security.
Get real-time alerts and response
Gain advanced capability to capture non-compliant employee behavior with real-time monitoring and alerts so you don’t escape any potential risk in making and waiting for an opportunity to cause harm. Act on the actionable threat intelligence to control data confidentiality and organizational security.
Stay ahead of threats and control data loss instances
Differentiating what employee activities are normal and what their actions reflect suspicion is vital in responding before threats happen. Get help with AI-powered advanced security and compliance measures to capture the actionable predictive analytics that matters. Start with your wAnywhere experience today to discover how the team monitoring software can help you gain strong control over growing threats.
