Why Employee Data May Pose Biggest Cyber Risk

Cyber risk is no longer a potential threat to put on the back burner for later review. The reality is that cyber risk is a threat right now. Many organizations are taking precautions to protect themselves and their people. However, despite the plethora of major companies and brands experiencing the repercussions of not instilling pre-breach precautions, the question remains: is it necessary to encrypt employee information?

The answer is a resounding yes! It’s absolutely necessary. Here’s why.

tudies Prove Employee Negligence

According to a recent study by Sophos, “The State of Encryption Today,” 46% of organizations don’t utilize encryption technology.

In this same report, we learn a few key reasons why some organizations consider encryption to be necessary for both small and large businesses

However, when we take a closer look, “31% of organizations are not always encrypting employee bank details, 43% aren’t always encrypting HR records and 47% aren’t always encrypting employee healthcare information.”

Why 46% of Organizations Don’t Encrypt

The best way to avoid a data breach for your organization is to prevent it, right? Yet, the amount of organizations that continue to leave their employees exposed is baffling.

Not to mention that, as the above statistic from the Sophos report states, there’s still a large number that don’t encrypt at all! [Click to Tweet]

There are three major reasons that organizations choose to forfeit the use of encryption all together, and they aren’t surprising:

1. They don’t know how to deploy encryption software
2. They don’t have the budget for encryption software
3. They think encryption software will limit their abilities

These all lead to one major conclusion – organizations aren’t receiving the proper type of education on cybersecurity, pre-breach procedures and breach-prevention.

Your Information Might Already be on the Dark Web

With employee data leaks spreading across the globe, there’s a strong possibility that your data or your employees’ data is already on the Dark Web, up for grabs to cyber criminals to use maliciously. Installing encryption software is just one example of a precaution you can take and there are several measures you can take pre-breach or post-breach to protect yourself, your organization and its people.

Solutions like ID Agent for personal identity monitoring and Dark Web ID for corporate threat alerts can be incredibly effective. These pre- and post-breach tools can keep cyber risk from escalating to a major identity theft incident, but can also serve as a source to ease your mind in the case your data has already been compromised. By allowing you to effectively monitor the Dark Web, you can detect any potential threats on your organization or employees’ information.

Remember how important it is to invest in your greatest asset – your employees. What strategies does your organization have in place to keep its employees secure?