Employees continue to be your biggest threat

Viruses are a threat. Denial of service attacks are scary. Your employees, however, are your biggest threat.

 

While 98% of Canadian business leaders and decision makers believe it is important for a company to secure sensitive data.

 

A recent Fusepoint/Sun Microsystems/Leger Marketing survey reveals that business leaders believe the greatest threat is not from a malicious external attack, but rather from the hands of an uninformed employee. The research showed that 46% percent of respondents said that employees who accidentally download security-compromising viruses, spyware or adware pose a greater data security risk to a company than external agents like hackers, cited next at 40%.

 

Of the 556 executive interviewed for the survey, 55% say that their confidential and private data is at risk of an attack, despite the fact that most consumers (58%) would immediately terminate their relationship with a company that compromised their personal information.

 

Poll results also showed that more than one in 10 Canadian consumers (14%) believe they have already been a victim of identity theft with 38% of respondents saying they know someone who has been a victim of identity theft. In addition, 74% of consumers believe that everybody