Cyber-Unsafe Employees Increasingly Put Orgs at Risk

NEWS BRIEF

A survey of more than 14,000 employees across a variety of industries shows that employee behaviors when it comes to sensitive data often put organizations at risk.

The findings show that 80% of those surveyed access workplace applications from personal devices that lack necessary security controls. In addition, privileged access extends beyond IT admins, and 40% of respondents habitually download customer data. A third of respondents are able to alter sensitive data without controls, and roughly 30% can approve large financial transactions on their own.

In addition to this, the CyberArk study found that employees often practice bad cybersecurity habits. About half (49%) of respondents admitted to reusing the same login credentials for multiple work applications, while 36% use the same credentials for both work and personal applications; about 65% copped to bypassing cybersecurity policies for personal ease. All of these practices heighten the risk of organizations falling victim to leaks and data breaches.

The security firm warned that such behaviors will only continue with the growing use of on-the-rise tools, such as artificial intelligence, which are increasingly being introduced into the workplace. Roughly 72% of employees use AI tools, which can pose a threat when sensitive data is inputted into them — a likely scenario as 38% of employees only sometimes, if ever, adhere to guidelines dictating the handling of sensitive data when it comes to AI.