Why the biggest cybersecurity threats are inside your organization

You don’t need to look farther than your own backyard when looking at the biggest security breaches that can ever hit your organization. Hackers and criminals are aplenty out there, but your high-value cyber assets are most at risk when you consider your own internal environment: your people and company insiders.

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In a 2016 report, IBM discovered that some 60 percent of all cyber attacks were performed by insiders. Of these attacks, three-quarters were out of malicious intent while the remaining one-quarter involved unsuspecting players. In a report made in 2015, it also found that human error is nearly always an element that made these breaches possible. While 23.5 percent were undertaken by inadvertent insiders versus 31.5 percent by malicious characters, a whopping 95 percent involved a person making a mistake.


To err is human, as they say. Unwitting insiders make breaches possible with anything from misaddressed emails and stolen hardware and devices to confidential data transmitted to vulnerable home systems. The greatest risks were with rather well-meaning IT administrators who can have total access to the company infrastructure – and whose small error can turn into a full-blown catastrophe for the business.

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An employee system can also be compromised when cyber criminals and fraudsters, who are adept at hijacking identities, inject malware into company systems or mount phishing attacks. Sometimes they use stolen credentials, particularly those obtained from social networks. They can elevate a particular user access within an internal system, getting further access to sensitive and valuable data.


Cybersecurity is not just guarding the perimeter and mounting a solid external defense. It’s also a war waged with an enemy within, whether a bad employee or people who need to be better informed and educated when it comes to security compliance and consciousness.


Secure Channels has innovative platforms that provide security into endpoints, applications, and networks from the inside out, offering access to your critical resources while protecting client data from breach, theft, and misuse. Learn more on this page.

What could happen to your data if you don’t have a cyber security system

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An unsafe online network is open water for cyber criminals. If your company does not apply an ideal level of online defense, then you could be sure that your data is in extreme vulnerability to hackers. Cyber criminals are known to access data so they can dip into financial accounts. They are cunning and creative with their ways, which is why it is very important to beef up your cyber security system.

Being exposed to cyber criminals is only the beginning as there could be a chain of mishaps resulting from the absence of a security system. Everyone with important information stored in your network will be compromised. Once hackers access this, they can do whatever they want with it. Imagine the exposure of accounts, private e-mails, personnel information, and confidential company documents that can be used for fraud and identity theft.

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Cyber criminals can also get into web assets and email correspondences. Your files can be copied for the use of others or worse, destroyed. Sometimes, cyber criminals can be closer than you think; they can be hired by those working against your company or organization.

In fact, the FBI reported a 50% increase of cyber economic espionage in the last year. These people can secretly peek into your system and gather information that will benefit their progress instead of yours. If your company has secrets, then you could be sure that these will be made public if you don’t protect your online network.

Secure Channels provides solutions customizable to its client’s environment without compromising the level of protection it offers and avoiding additional maintenance and support by support teams. For more articles about online security, visit this page.