It seems like data breaches are seldom out of the news these days, but whilst that means we're more likely to be aware of their existence it also means there's a risk that individual threats begin to fade into the general day-to-day techy chatter and we don't give them the attention they deserve.
The growing number of breaches -- up 10 percent over last year according to a recent study by the Ponemon institute -- means they're less likely to catch our attention. Security training firm KnowBe4 refers to this phenomenon as "breach fatigue" and warns that it may be placing companies at risk.
"The increasing volume of customers affected by these data breaches may be causing a complacency that creates even more risk," says Stu Sjouwerman, CEO of KnowBe4. "For most companies, it is not a matter of if, but when, followed by a free year of credit monitoring. For users, the constant barrage of breach news can cloud their awareness of cyber-threats as it all becomes background noise".
The company warns that a careless attitude on the part of individuals can carry over to the business environment. This in turn leads to more risk of being hacked, phished or socially engineered into giving away company information.
Michael Bruemmer, vice president of the credit information company Experian's data breach resolution group which sponsored the Ponemon study, says that 80 percent of the breaches his group works with, "had a root cause in employee negligence." He goes on to say, "It could be from someone giving out their password, someone being spear-phished, it could be a lost USB, it could be somebody mishandling files, it could be leaving the door to the network operations center open so someone can walk in".
You can find out more about how KnowBe4's security awareness training can help employees stay alert to the risks on the company's website. It's also offering a free whitepaper charting the rise of ransomware.
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