Although it’s common to think that your data would only be attacked by a malicious hacker from the other side of the world, more often than not, a cyberattack stems from within an organisation. Atlas VPN has put forward some research that shows that from July 2019 to July 2020, 65% of all the organisations suffered one or more cyberattacks from within the organisation itself, and with most of the world switching to online means of working amidst the pandemic, it is very likely that the number might have increased for the second half of the year.
Are all insider attacks malicious?
Although sometimes there are employees that attack your organisation on purpose to steal or leak data for their own personal gain but this isn’t always the case. Most of the time, untrained employees end up accidentally giving hackers access to company information, without even knowing they did so. Companies need to be sure that they are protected from either type of threat and that they have a contingency plan in place just in case the cyberattack is successful.
Beware of the potential risks and have a backup plan for if things go wrong
When an employee already has access to your company network, it is far easier for them to hack into data that they might not be authorized to view. They don’t have to break through as many firewalls or other security measures because they are already inside. Anyone with the inclination of wanting to steal data, can do it fairly easily.
It’s important that you are prepared from a potential cyberattack from both, inside and outside your organisation.
This can be done by making sure you have a strong security system in place for sensitive files from both the outside access and access from within the company. So even if someone does try to break-in, it’s not a cakewalk.
On the other hand, train your employees in cybersecurity measures. Teach them the basics of what an incognito cyberattack may look like. They should have strong passwords, have access to their primary email account, use two factor authentication and know how to tell the difference between a legitimate email, and a phishing email. These are the basic ways a hacker can use a naive employee to gain access to your system. If your employees can avoid all of this, your company, and your employees are already a lot safer
Financial aspects of a cyberattack
According to Atlas VPN’s research, almost 50% of the attacked organisations had to spend under $100,000 to rectify the issues that the cyberattack caused them. This is a lot of money, but it’s nothing compared to the $100,000 to $500,000 that 30% of the companies had to pay to fix their issues.
This didn’t just happen here and there, 4 out of 10 companies faced 5 attacks every 2 months. While others dealt with around 2 every month.
We’re seeing an increase in cyberattacks worldwide. A combination of proper security measures and employee training can help make sure that you don’t end up having to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix the damage done by a cyberattack.
