The Great Resignation and Its Threats to Cybersecurity

The pandemic witnessed an enormous number of workers electing to leave their workplace. This was not only concerning from an economic point of view but had an evident cyber exploitation possibility. With it, brewed the risks of offboarding and insider threats. Let's find out what these terms mean, how they can affect you and what can be done to safeguard your organisation.

What was the Great Resignation?

A record number of workers decided to leave their jobs around the same time during the pandemic. We can trace such behaviour back to economic uncertainty, extenuating circumstances and health ailments. The sudden and dramatic nature of this offboarding became an issue that needed immediate attention as per the IT industry leaders. The root cause of this worry was the looming danger of insider threats. 

Insider Threat and its implications

Employees have access to highly confidential company data and information regarding their future plans. At the click of a button, the employee can choose to use this data to harm the company (which could be unintentional as well but risks the organisation's survival nonetheless). 

According to the Forrester principal analyst Heidi Shey, it can take place in the following forms-

1. Data breach from unsatisfied employees as a malicious and intentional offence
2. Fraud because of the privileged access
3. Privacy abuses such as accidental (or incidental) sharing of private and vital information
4. Leaking of Sensitive Data as an exchange for monetary benefits from a competitor

How to avoid these cybersecurity issues?

In the current scenario, it becomes essential to note that cyber-attacks are rising. The insider threat situation only adds to the probability of a seemingly secure organisation becoming a victim of the concerns mentioned above. Experts suggest taking the following steps to avoid compromising their data security.

Authorised Access: 

Access to sensitive information should be very carefully handled. Only highly professional, responsible and trustworthy employees who have a relevant reason to be in touch with that data should be granted access. Even then, they should be highly monitored. In case of a resignation, the permit should immediately be retracted.

Cyber Asset Management: 

A large set of employees and the interlinkages between the data of various branches can create an extremely complex situation to handle. There is an imperative need of simplifying the management of cyber assets. Minimising the authorised personnel to only those who are necessary through effective control would be a step in the right direction.

The threat is real but highly avoidable; companies need more transparency so that an unwanted attack can be traced back to its perpetrator across linkages and branches. This would aid in elevating accountability. Additionally, all assets should be accounted for; such a practice will slowly eliminate the threat of cybersecurity via insiders. 

To identify your organisation's security gaps and the shortfalls of your existing security strategies, get in touch with us today! 

You're welcome to learn more about improving the efficiency of your organisation's security strategy in collaboration with our cybersecurity experts.