In a time of financial crisis, are you protected against data leakage?Redundancies are common these days, affecting all activity sectors. Employees who are made redundant or leave their company rarely leave empty-handed. This can cause major damage in terms of security and the protection of a company's intellectual property.
Firing IT employees can be extremely expensive and threaten the security and competitiveness of enterprise information. According to a 2009 survey on "Trust, Security & Passwords", about 90% of the administrators questioned in the new technology sector would be willing to disclose secret information about their company if dismissed.
This sensitive data includes passwords, databases, research projects, detailed specifications, financial reports and above all lists of privileged passwords, each one of which is a key giving access to a company's secure networks. Leaks of information like this would give the competition access to strictly confidential reports, such as customer budgets, information sheets, pay slips etc. Today very few changes are made to access codes for critical servers. |
|
Most IT and security managers do not realise that the passwords in the hands of network administrators give them virtually unlimited access to a great deal of confidential data," explains Jean-Noël de Galzain, CEO of Wallix. "These IDs open the doors of sensitive servers and applications and are rarely changed." This means that when an employee leaves an organisation he often still has access to the network using these passwords, allowing him to acquire sensitive information he can use later. This is typically in addition to the many other sources of data leakage. For example, we find that one company in four admits to falling victim to piracy or data loss caused by industrial espionage or internal sabotage. Confidential information is still too often written on Post-It notes. Most companies acknowledge the fear of IT breaches caused by criminal groups or competitors with little loyalty. However, the study notes certain paradoxes in companies' security strategies. They are ready to invest considerable sums in highly secure architectures and networks. But when we observe the daily practices of company staff and managers, we note that the vast majority of administrators write down their ultra-confidential passwords and other secret identifiers on Post-It notes, which they often leave carelessly lying on their desks. |
