Is Your Business Safe From Insider Data Theft?

All business owners understand the risks posed by data leaks but most people assume that they only need to worry about risks from the outside. However, around 34% of data leaks happen due to something that your employees are doing, so inside data breaches are a bigger problem than you might think.

In the majority of cases, these leaks are not malicious and they happen because employees are not following the necessary protocols to protect data. Improving your training and investing in the right tools can help you to avoid this. Unfortunately, some inside data leaks are intentional and employees will deliberately steal data. It may be a disgruntled employee that wants to get back at the company or it may be somebody that is selling data for their own financial gain. Whatever the reasons, it’s important that you find ways to prevent insider data theft in your business. These are some of the most important steps that you need to take. 

Privileged Access 

The more people that have access to data, the easier it is to steal. If everybody in the company has access to everything, it’s very difficult to determine the culprit or even work out whether a data breach was intentional or not. That’s why you need to invest in privileged access management services so you have full control over who has access to what. Only allow access to people that need to view information to do their job so you can limit the potential for data theft as much as possible. You can also use privileged access management services to monitor behavior and flag anything suspicious, so you can catch any employees that may be stealing your data. 

BYOD Policies 

A lot of businesses are implementing a BYOD (bring your own device) policy because it saves them money on tech costs and employees are often more productive when using personal devices that they are more familiar with. However, if you allow people to bring laptops to work, access sensitive data, and then take their laptops home again, that’s a big security risk. If you want to be safe, you should rethink your BYOD policy or, at the very least, put serious limits on what people can access on personal devices. 

Improve Employee Loyalty 

If employees are stealing sensitive data from your business, it’s clear that they have an issue with the company. Employees that feel valued will be loyal to the business, so looking after your team is one of the best ways to avoid insider data theft. Make sure that you offer good employee benefits and pay a fair salary to all of your employees. It’s also important that you recognize hard work and praise your employees so they know that they are valued. When you conduct employee reviews, always ask for their feedback and see whether there is anything that they are unhappy with. As long as you listen to their feedback and act on it, you will be able to improve employee loyalty and reduce the chances of insider data theft. 

Every business owner thinks that insider data theft isn’t a problem for them until it happens, so take steps to prevent it right away.