Hacker Popularity Overshadows Insider Attacks

Anonymous and LulzSec attacks have been making a splash across news headlines this summer. It should come as no surprise that hacker attacks are far more publicized than insider attacks. In fact, according to the 2011 CyberSecurity Watch Survey conducted by CSO Magazine and Deloitte, 70 percent of insider incidents are handled internally without legal action. This begs the question - how many of those incidents are disclosed to the public? While a majority of U.S. states have enacted security breach notification laws it hasn't stopped some organizations from covering up insider breaches. Security breach notification, whether from a hacker or an inside attack, doesn't just fall on private organizations. The California Department of Public Health took 80 days to disclose that an employee was improperly copying information over a period of fours years to a private hard drive. And just last week the Treasury Inspector General for Administration released a report indicating that the IRS averages 86 days to report issues where personal information has been compromised. Currently legislation is making its way through the House of Representatives, aptly titled, Secure and Fortify Electronics (SAFE) Data Act, that if enacted would preempt state data breach disclosure laws and require companies to notify the FTC and affected individuals within 48 hours. Although many businesses focus much of their security technology budgets toward protecting themselves against breaches from outsiders, it's also as critical that they implement privileged identity management solutions to securing their perimeters within from insider threats.