Human error exposes records

 

Following the recent news from Publicly who reported that human error was to blame as exposed records topped 37 billion in 2020, we asked Adam Strange, Data Classification Specialist at HelpSystems (www.helpsystems.com) for his opinions on insider threat.

“Data released today from a global leader in vulnerability intelligence, breach data and risk ratings showed that human error was to blame as exposed records soared 141% in 2020 topping 37 billion.  This startling revelation once again brings the huge, yet often understated, significance of the insider threat into sharp focus and will leave organizations globally pondering how they combat this escalating problem, more so now than ever with remote working at an all-time high.”

“One means of reducing the insider threat is with appropriate data classification solutions.  The intentions of a malicious employee and one who simply makes an error are entirely different, but the outcome is the same.  This is why it is imperative to make a conscious effort to reduce human errors in relation to the handling of data, and data classification tools can assist with this immensely.”

“Data volumes are growing rapidly on a daily basis, and as a result many businesses have difficulty knowing where their sensitive information is located, or even more problematic, how to distinguish it from more public data.  A huge number of businesses still do not have a policy of informing employees of how to handle critical data and in some instances, there are no effective controls in place for the detection and prevention of the disclosure of sensitive data or inappropriate transmission of information.  This means that an abundance of confidential data is unprotected, or worse still, lost.”

“It all comes down to one thing – a lack of control.  Data classification combats this problem by ensuring you know where your data is located, how sensitive it is, and as such how it should and should not be used, and who has access to it, giving organisations the platform to put effective and appropriate security controls in place.”