The constant threat of cyber attacks on businesses globally has led to vast sums of money being spent to protect against them.
Both large and small businesses are forced to take precautionary steps to safeguard sensitive information of their employees, partners and clients, including purchasing a comprehensive cyber liability insurance policy.
Another survey, conducted onsite at the Risk and Insurance Management Society Conference in San Diego in May, found that nine out of 10 businesses were attacked in 2015 — citing also that cyber attacks increased by 21% from 2015.
As threats continue to grow exponentially, cyber criminals become more sophisticated in their methods of attack. The image of some nefarious character plotting in his or her bedroom is one most of us have when thinking about hackers and cyber criminals, but are they the only ones to be held accountable?
A recent IBM report revealed that in 2015, 40% of attacks stemmed from "outsiders" while a surprising 60% were actually perpetrated by company insiders.
IBM used information from over 8,000 of their clients' devices, which revealed that although 55.5% of such attacks were not malicious, 44.5% were.
IBM defined an insider as anyone who has physical or remote access to a company's assets — although this would often be an employee, it can also mean business partners or maintenance contractors — basically anyone companies trust enough to grant access to their system.
IBM added that insiders may also be aware of the company's weaknesses and thus exploit them more effectively than an outside agent might be able to.
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