In bad news for employers, a new survey reveals that most employees would walk out with proprietary data if fired. The survey offered several other concerning statistics for security professionals, including:
1. Most accounts are protected by default or weak passwords.
2. Most IT professional have account access that does not relate to their current jobs.
3. Employees have used administrative passwords to access confidential information.
4. Most employees believe competitors have received proprietary data about their company.
The main point of the survey: privileged access points are the critical target for both insider and external threats. It’s a key reason spear phishing targets high-level company executives and IT professionals with account access. Companies looking to protect sensitive information should limit to every extent possible the number of individuals with privileged account access, and should also institute clear, enforced guidelines for password standards.
