Disgruntled Employee Quits Scranton or Wilkes Barre Business

Data is the heartbeat of any business, and thanks to digital transformation, data can be shared across many platforms among many users within and across businesses. Businesses not only store large amounts of data but transmit large amounts of confidential data and information.

As more data exchange occurs, threats and risks also increase. When we hear of security breaches, data breaches, and other events that can impact your business’s security, we generally think of malicious acts carried out by individuals from outside the business. While it’s true that unknown hackers and cybercriminals pose a significant security threat to your business, the most frightening risks often come from inside your business.

The security of your business may very well be most at risk when an employee quits and leaves abruptly. The risk to confidentiality and data containment can be in the balance, especially if the employee is disgruntled or has malicious intentions as they leave. Internal security threats and risks are more common than you might think. Disgruntled employees can be a significant threat to the security of your business because they have access to a plethora of sensitive information and the potential to do some devastating damage.

Is Your Business’s Perimeter Security Is Losing Its Force?

Many businesses only measure their security controls on a perimeter level because of the belief that cyber threats and attacks only come from those on the outside. However, once a breach has occurred within the perimeter, your organization’s security will also be breached. It does not matter how hardened you believe your organization’s perimeter defense is, it can still fail.

Today, the threat does not only come from external bad actors but also from internal sources that pose a significant threat. A disgruntled employee with unlimited access to confidential and sensitive data can cause a security or data breach or purposefully expose the data. Thus, a business that only employs a perimeter-only approach can be vulnerable to risks and threats perpetrated by a disgruntled employee.

More advanced and sophisticated methods are being designed and used to hack into systems and applications. There are countless opportunities for internal and external bad actors to exploit weak security measures within an organization.  Some factors why businesses become victims of such attacks:

  • The rapid increase in the production and usage of mobile devices has made it easier to share information
  • Increase in the usage of browser-based applications
  • Increase in network traffic due to higher bandwidth, new devices, and geographic footprints
  • Increase in online transactions

If you only look at your organization’s security defense from a perimeter level, the combination of motive and opportunity can foster an environment where threats from internal bad actors should be anticipated.

How Can You Identify the Insider Threats That Impact Your Business?

There are several warning flags to look out for when identifying internal threats within your organization. Malicious internal acts are typically carried out by disgruntled employees who feel their expectations were met. Some examples of unmet work-related expectations include not receiving a raise or promotion they believe they deserved or being assigned work tasks they feel don’t match their experiences or future work aspirations. Warning signs to pay attention to include arguments or disagreements with business leaders and colleagues, tardiness, absenteeism, and poor job performance.

Administrators and other privileged users generally have open access to confidential information, and this puts those users in a great position to breach your systems. If these users are not monitored, it leaves your organization extremely vulnerable to insider threats. As your organization grows, the expectation is that you will also expand the scope of access to your data. Unfortunately, this can lead to a rapid increase in unauthorized access and unmonitored devices. If your organization fails to limit access to sensitive and confidential information, your organization will become extremely vulnerable to insider threats.

Your Business Needs More Than a Single Layer of Defense

Today’s threat landscape is vast with a variety of both known and unknown threats. Protecting your organization’s valuable assets using only a single layer of defense is challenging. Your organization needs to take a more comprehensive approach to cybersecurity and cyber defense by utilizing layered security.

With a layered security approach, your organization can prevent security vulnerabilities from compromising your organization’s infrastructure.

If you only concentrate all of your organization’s security forces on external factors, with no further defenses protecting the inside of your organization, and a bad actor slips through the gaps, your entire organization can be exposed. On the other hand, if you take a layered security approach, you will have added protection. So, even if there is a breach, added fortifications will be there to stop the bad actor from getting any further.

Your organization needs to take a layered approach to security so you can protect your confidential and sensitive data. By taking this approach, you will ensure the confidentiality and availability of your organization’s data.

Target Your Business Defense Efforts

Knowing the valuable and sensitive data your organization has and adjusting the level of security that is used to protect that data is crucial. Not all threats come from outside the organization, internal threats should be responded to swiftly, and only a few individuals should have access to high-value and confidential data. This will help to reduce your overall risk. There are other ways to protect your organization from retaliation scenarios, such as the following:

  • Disabling accounts
  • Changing passwords
  • Collecting all equipment
  • Performing routine backups
  • Redeploying equipment

The protection of your organization’s sensitive data is critical. No organization wants to have a disgruntled employee reveal all its business secrets to a competitor. Disgruntled employees may also supply passwords and other information to cybercriminals and hackers who could create lasting and damaging consequences. Preventing current and future mischief or deliberate damage or theft is as crucial as protecting the keys or key codes to a safe at a bank.

Implement this prevention with the least amount of disruption to give you peace of mind after a disgruntled employee suddenly quits. Call tech42 LLC today at (570) 209-7200 for a detailed assessment of all your organization’s cybersecurity risks.