JOIN USIn an increasingly-wired networked business environment, the threat from within the organisation is more than from outside to business firms, who in any case are facing increasing challenges of cyber crimes and corporate espionage.
If these were not enough, employees are committing security breaches, albeit innocuously by posting or sharing business-sensitive information on social media websites, according to a report by consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), India.
The report titled “Invading privacy: Cyber crimes on the rise” authored by PwC India Executive Director Sivarama Krishnan said, “In most cases, breaches by insiders are committed by individuals who are motivated by greed, selfishness, or antagonism towards the management leaking confidential information outside the organisation.”
Citing a 2011 report “PwC Economic Crime Survey 2011 India”, it said that 60 per cent organisations were of the view that perpetrators were among their own staff and 36 per cent were outsiders. “It’s either collusion or unconscious involvement, which accentuates the case for awareness and stricter control,” Krishnan said.
In a world marked by fierce competition and increasing uncertainties, keeping tab on rivals has gone digital, the report said, adding: “Corporate spying is prevalent in sectors such as electronics and infrastructure, which are considered more vulnerable to fraudulent practices.”
It identified intellectual property, e-files, databases, and product-sensitive reports as susceptible to the challenge and said that the trend spans sectors from IT, BPO, FMCG, banking and telecom.
Extrapolating cyber crime statistics, the report said that such crimes registered under the Information Technology Act are expected to up from 2,636 in FY2013 from 1,791 in 2011.
Bring your own device (BYOD), the latest buzz in IT companies, is an emerging security menace, as it represents the “weakest link” in mobile device security, Krishna said.