How Risky Is It to Have Disgruntled Workers?
Australian companies should pay more attention to disgruntled employees, as they pose a greater risk to IT security than third-party hackers. With the right mix of IT services and updated company policy, you should be able to curb the costly impact of insider threats. An outsourced IT service provider can be a good choice, especially because of the low number of skilled professionals in the country.
The Nature of Unhappy Employees
Unhappy employees are arguably the most difficult to identify at the workplace. That’s because not all of them think about abusing their administrative access right away. It usually starts by harbouring ill feelings against their employers and when they’ve reached their tipping point, disgruntled employees will decide to compromise or destroy sensitive data. Some even steal valuable information and sell it to their employer’s competitors.
You can prevent this from happening to your own business by looking for a reliable provider of IT services such as information technology security audit and on-site IT support services. After all, disgruntled employees aren’t just the only risk that weakens your IT security.
Other Kinds of Insider Threats
Aside from disgruntled employees, the two other common types of insider threats comprise negligent workers and employees with malicious intentions. Careless employees often compromise your company’s network security by being unaware of basic security protocols. This could be as simple as clicking links in suspicious emails or not using a strong password.
On the other hand, companies in the finance and healthcare industries should focus more on IT services for addressing malicious insiders. They accounted for 12% of malicious attacks between October and December in 2018, according to a report from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. This is a good reason to be more stringent on how you choose employees with administrative access to your network.
A Skills Gap in the IT Sector
Another reason to hire a trusted provider of IT services involves a shortage of qualified and skilled professionals in the industry. A recent global study showed that four out of five Australian companies have no clear strategy for responding to different IT incidents.
Even if they do, it’s possible that their cybersecurity incident response policies remain untested. IT experts recommend that you should regularly conduct stress testing to determine your network’s vulnerability to a data breach, malware and ransomware attacks among other threats. IT outsourcing can be the perfect solution especially for businesses in the e-commerce, finance and health care sectors.
The Final Word
You should consider outsourcing your preferred IT services when you are unable to afford an in-house team, although the IT-as-a-service model isn’t exclusive for start-up companies and small businesses. Not only does this save money but it also lets you pay for only what you need to beef up your network infrastructure security. What’s your strategy for dealing with insider threats? Let us know through this form.
