Security risks abound. A managed services provider can help you solve this problem and much more.
Key Takeaways:
- A recent report showed that 63% of ex-employees take company data when they leave
- 71% of companies have no idea what’s being stolen from them
- What’s being taken by 87% of the departing employees is data they’ve created, while 28% take data created by others – this has been largely enabled by cloud computing
- Insider threats have tripled since 2016, at an annual cost of $4.08 million per company, per a recent survey.
- All of these security risks add an additional layer of complexity to user management
The headlines scream it often and loudly: The great resignation has caused the largest exodus of employees in history. What the headlines don’t talk about are the data security risks related to high employee turnover. This, coupled with a skills gap not seen in a generation, is causing angst in many a boardroom. What was a manageable problem is now a constant worry.
And they are right to be worried. A recent report revealed that 63% of employees say they took data from their previous employer. That’s just the former staff who realized they were taking data, but likely many others took it without knowing. It doesn’t matter if these people were malicious actors or accidental thieves, the consequences can be dire to the health of an organization.
The pandemic didn’t help. Amid the scramble to get people productive working away from the office, security was often an afterthought. Meanwhile, 67% were using personal devices and 87% of businesses relied on their staff’s ability to access the information they needed using smartphones. This security blind spot has left 71% of companies in the dark about how much sensitive data was taken by ex-employees.
Turbulence in the job market has created some significant risks in the enterprise. Effective and secure user management is vital to smooth business operations. The right technology partner can ensure new employees get the tools they need to do their job, and departing employees lose their access to your vital business assets. Let’s talk about what this means for IT, user management, and the security of your information.
How and why
It’s a sad fact that a staggering number of departing employees, 87%, take corporate information with them that they’ve created, and 28% take data created by others. Cloud computing has made stealing data really easy. Easy for them, but quite costly for you. Insider threats are three times what they were in 2016. In 4,716 incidents reported from 204 organizations, 23.4% came from malicious insiders. This came at an annual cost of $4.08 million.
There are many reasons why employees take data with them when they leave, running from personal spite to starting their own business to competitor pirating. The information they steal may include collaborative documents, consumer databases, and research and development. Employee data theft is obviously a huge problem that adds to the user management burden.
The security risks of hybrid work and the cloud
People resigning from their jobs are often doing it when employers insist they return to the office. More than a third would like to work from home all the time, and about 50% prefer a hybrid model that blends in-office with remote work. Only 9% want to be in the office full-time.
Figuring out how to perform user management in this new hybrid model can be tricky because many companies rely on the cloud to enable working from home, and the cloud is not as secure as it seems.
We see a lot of cloud migrations that happened without IT or with limited IT where security protocols are skipped. Many businesses believe they are inherently more secure because they are in the cloud, but in reality, they’ve decreased security by making data more accessible. And too often, when companies move to the cloud, they don’t pay attention to the same security that they would have in a more traditional, “in-house” IT project.
It’s important that you apply the same security fundamentals to your cloud set-up as you do internal servers. Always follow the principles of least-privileged access, which essentially means only giving users access to the data they need to do their jobs.
User management controls access, and access is everything
It is user management that allows IT administrators to control user access and on-board and off-board staff when it comes to IT resources such as systems, devices, applications, storage, networks, SaaS, and DaaS services, among others. Not everyone in your company needs access to everything, and limited access means tighter security.
User management enables IT administrators to provision users and manage resources based on need and role. This keeps digital assets secure and also provides end-users with frictionless and secure access to the resources they need to be productive.
Access management
The foundation of secure user management is identity access management. Compromised identities are one of the leading causes of data breaches, with 94% of organizations having experienced such an attack.
It’s important to develop and implement an efficient user management strategy that includes:
- Protection for IT systems and data
- Robust user authentication
- Secure password reset functions
- Processes for assigning user privileges for systems, services, and applications
- Processes to lock and delete accounts and privileges when a user leaves the company
User management is tricky, and any failures here jeopardize data security. The right software can automatically apply your security protocols to govern who has access to what data, when, and trigger actions when employees switch departments or leave the company, among other circumstances.
The IT skill gap can cripple your business – here’s how to solve it
Lost revenue and lack of expansion opportunities, as well as lower employee morale and exposure to cybersecurity breaches of all kinds, are just a few of the ways lack of skilled IT workers can hurt a company. The IT skill gap has risen 155% since 2016 and impacts 79% of IT departments globally, with new gaps forming all the time.
Corporate maladies linked with the IT skills gap include lower quality work, migration and launch delays, and add stress added to an already stressful CIO job. Your IT department may be too busy, your most knowledgeable IT person may have left, or you’re just not really sure what is the best path to take.
Navigating this turbulent labor market and the all-important task of user management, as well as other critical IT functions, requires a solid IT managed services partner. Aside from helping you devise proper on-boarding and off-boarding processes, they:
- Provide stability: And we’re not just talking about your network here. We’re talking about stability and continuity in who is taking care of your IT problems, who has the institutional knowledge, and who provides constant administrator support.
- Offer rapid response: On-board new employees quickly and cut off access immediately for those who are leaving.
- Know the latest security protocols: Including providing all-important app updates and security patches while monitoring threats.
- Apply automation: A managed services partner can help you leverage automation where appropriate to increase productivity and security.
- Data backup: Ensures every single bit of your data is backed up in case the worst happens.
A managed services provider can offer the support and knowledge you need while saving you money. They can also provide strategic planning that puts you on a path to growth, shoulders the user management headaches inherent in a time of high employee turnover, and ensures business continuity.
iVenture Solutions offers IT management services to companies of all sizes. We not only help them weather the Great Resignation but also look beyond it toward a stable and secure future. We offer network management, IT support, and strategic technology planning. We also offer critical project management, and we’re cloud services experts with a deep knowledge of cybersecurity and risk management.
Contact us for a free comprehensive evaluation of your current IT infrastructure and how we can help your organization reach its full potential.
