{"id":47777,"date":"2023-04-12T05:33:36","date_gmt":"2023-04-12T09:33:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/?post_type=emagazine&#038;p=47777"},"modified":"2023-04-12T05:33:36","modified_gmt":"2023-04-12T09:33:36","slug":"employees-leaking-data-education","status":"publish","type":"emagazine","link":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/employees-leaking-data-education\/47777\/","title":{"rendered":"Guess who&#8217;s leaking as much data as cybercriminals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>New research by Kaspersky finds employees are causing more data leaks. So much so that employee action and cyberattacks are running neck-and-neck.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s behind this growth in employee-initiated data leaking? And what can business leaders do to turn employees from cyber risk to cyber asset?<\/p>\n<h2>Why are employees causing more data leaks?<\/h2>\n<p>More than 3,000 IT security managers in 26 countries contributed views to <a href=\"https:\/\/calculator.kaspersky.com\/report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Kaspersky\u2019s 2022 IT Security Economics report<\/a>. The research found that in 2022, cyberattacks caused 23 percent of data leaks, while employees caused a close 22 percent.<\/p>\n<p>This growing proportion of leaks linked to employees may follow work-life changes since the pandemic. The report says, \u201cIT security teams are now battling data leakages caused by employees [\u2026] following the introduction of new staff laptops or tablets, and Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to enable remote working.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-promo-post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"o-row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"o-col-12@sm\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<article class=\"c-card c-card--link c-card--hor@xs c-card--small@xs\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-card__figure c-card__figure--small@xs c-card__figure--medium@sm\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/heathrow-airport-cybersecurity-education\/44618\/\" class=\"c-card__figure-link\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/media.kasperskydaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2022\/06\/15090230\/303_behind-the-screen-heathrow-airport-header-500x500.jpg\" class=\"attachment-card-default size-card-default wp-post-image\" alt=\"behind screen heathrow airport\" data-src=\"https:\/\/media.kasperskydaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2022\/06\/15090230\/303_behind-the-screen-heathrow-airport-header-500x500.jpg\" data-srcset=\"\" srcset=\"\">\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-card__body  \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<header class=\"c-card__header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"c-card__headline\">Related article<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"c-card__title \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/heathrow-airport-cybersecurity-education\/44618\/\" class=\"c-card__link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Why cybersecurity education is taking off at Heathrow Airport<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<svg class=\"o-icon o-svg-icon o-svg-right\"><use xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\" xlink:href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/kaspersky-emagazine\/assets\/sprite\/icons.svg#icon-arrow-long\"><\/use><\/svg>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/header>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-card__desc \">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>In response to social engineering emails, London Heathrow Airport created a culture of continuous, targeted cybersecurity education.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<footer class=\"c-card__footer\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"c-card__list\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"c-list-labels js-has-reading-time\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"c-list-labels__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/category\/cybersecurity-training-cybersecurity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Cybersecurity training<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><span class=\"js-reading-time\"><\/span> min read<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"u-hidden js-reading-content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYou might not think of cybersecurity first when it comes to airport safety, but Jasvinder Pham, Head of Cyber Development and Assurance and Matthew Bourne, Cyber Security Manager, believes it's at the heart of London Heathrow's safety practice. And education is their most important protective gear against cybercriminals that use psychological tricks, also known as social engineering, on their staff.\r\n\r\nIn Tomorrow Unlocked's video Next Departure: Fighting Cybercrime, Pham and Bourne outline how they're helping Heathrow staff see through cybercriminals' mind games.\r\nWhat is social engineering?\r\n\r\n\r\nAnd Pham says it's a common tactic. \"Nine out of ten breaches are done through social engineering. At Heathrow, we tend to get scattergun emails across the whole estate. We call that phishing. They'll ask a user to enter login and password details or click a link.\"\r\nLearning to recognize the mind tricks\r\nWhere phishing emails are a scattergun approach, the Heathrow cybersecurity team responds with carefully targeted cybersecurity education.\r\n\r\nThey use internal advertising to raise staff awareness of social engineering techniques, then send out their own phishing-style test emails to see who takes the bait.\r\n\r\nIt's part of a wider cybersecurity education program based on identifying those who can benefit most from the learning. Bourne says, \"We've turned training courses on their head by asking the questions first. If you answer them all correctly, you don't need the training. If you don't, you can sometimes complete training in less than 10 minutes.\"\r\n\r\nBourne believes cybersecurity training should resemble real-world cyberthreat situations. \"We've started using live actors to get a bigger impact and bring it to the context of the airport.\"\r\nCustomers are ready for better security\r\nPham says Heathrow wants to be on the cutting edge of security technology, but it's not always easy. \"We want to stay one step ahead, but I feel like we're one step behind.\"\r\n\r\nBut Pham believes one thing on their side is staff and customer readiness to embrace the latest security features. \"People use services like WhatsApp and multi-factor authentication in their home. They want more, so we need to make sure we don't miss out.\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/footer>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n<p>And it\u2019s not all innocent mistakes. Most employee-triggered leaks involved ignoring cybersecurity policy, but security managers also reported more than a third (36 percent) were deliberate acts of sabotage or espionage.<\/p>\n<h2>How employees cause data leaks<\/h2>\n<p>Small, almost mundane actions often lead to data leaks. Usually, the employee is tricked by a \u2018social engineering\u2019 tactic or practicing poor cyber \u2018hygiene.\u2019 But what does that mean?<\/p>\n<h3>Social engineering<\/h3>\n<p>Cybercriminals use manipulative tricks known as social engineering to fool employees into giving them access to systems or giving out information they otherwise wouldn\u2019t. A common approach is \u2018phishing\u2019 \u2013 emails or messages containing links that give cybercriminals access to business systems when clicked on.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/about\/press-releases\/2023_the-number-of-phishing-attacks-doubled-to-reach-over-500-million-in-2022\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Phishing is getting more sophisticated<\/a> \u2013 mimicking, for example, emails announcing sales or discounts from household brands so well they\u2019re hard to tell apart from the real thing.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/securelist.com\/spam-phishing-scam-report-2022\/108692\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u2018Spear phishing\u2019 is more targeted and personalized<\/a>. It might, for example, target those in an organization most likely to take the bait, or mimic a target organization\u2019s internal newsletter or email format.<\/p>\n<p>Cybercriminals also engage in social engineering one-on-one. For example, they may phone employees saying they\u2019re from the IT support desk and try to persuade the employee to share their login and password details.<\/p>\n<h3>Cyber hygiene<\/h3>\n<p>Maintaining good cyber hygiene means everyday practices that make it harder for cybercriminals to access systems.<\/p>\n<p>The actions that make up cyber hygiene will hopefully be familiar, for example: Having complex passwords, always using a VPN when working remotely and deleting digital information you no longer need.<\/p>\n<h3>How to stop employee leaks<\/h3>\n<p>Cybersecurity awareness training aims to teach cyber hygiene alongside the broader education employees need to notice and avoid falling for social engineering tricks.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier Kaspersky research in partnership with Longitude, a thought leadership agency within the Financial Times Group, found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.business-reporter.co.uk\/management\/why-successful-companies-invest-in-cybersecurity-skills\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">businesses confident in their cyber skills programs also report better overall cyberattack preparedness<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>While <a href=\"https:\/\/xtraining.kaspersky.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cybersecurity experts should upskill regularly<\/a>, the research highlights the importance of training all staff \u2013 beyond the IT department \u2013 to create a company-wide cybersecurity culture. One-off training is also not enough: staff need to absorb ideas and practice skills to make new habits.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/heathrow-airport-cybersecurity-education\/44618\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Heathrow Airport\u2019s innovative employee cyber awareness program<\/a> aims to change behavior long-term with \u2018little and often\u2019 education targeted at those who need it most. Heathrow uses mock phishing emails to identify employees at risk of falling for cybercriminals\u2019 tricks, so they\u2019re not wasting time educating employees whose cyber awareness is already strong.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 180px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe class=\"youtube-player\" type=\"text\/html\" width=\"640\" height=\"390\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-HShm77Izow?version=3&amp;rel=1&amp;fs=1&amp;showsearch=0&amp;showinfo=1&amp;iv_load_policy=1&amp;wmode=transparent\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/span><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Heathrow Airport's staff cyber education is targeted and regular<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Cybersecurity awareness training should also aim to encourage \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/reputation-cybersecurity\/36504\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">cyber pride<\/a>\u2018 \u2013 building positive motivation for good cyber behavior rather than stoking fear.<\/p>\n<h2>What about preventing employee sabotage?<\/h2>\n<p>Comprehensive cybersecurity education may not be enough to prevent the 36 percent of employee-generated data leaks done by disgruntled employees. Examples of <a href=\"https:\/\/covernote.co.nz\/covernote\/feature\/rogue-employees-the-insider-threat\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">how employees have deliberately leaked data abound<\/a> \u2013 from sharing customer data online to handing access keys to cybercriminals.<\/p>\n<p>Regular user access reviews \u2013 checking who has access to what and keeping all system access to a minimum \u2013 are important, but nothing surpasses the value of maintaining a positive workplace culture.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>You must identify and act on employee ill-feeling before it gets so bad that someone goes on the attack.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Leaders need ways to \u2018temperature check\u2019 their organization beyond relying on the Personnel department or peers in senior leadership to thoroughly report concerns. Affected departments have a \u2018dog in the fight,\u2019 so to speak, and may not share everything they should. Ways to temperature-check include <a href=\"https:\/\/www.qualtrics.com\/au\/experience-management\/employee\/360-feedback-survey-questions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">360-degree feedback mechanisms<\/a> \u2013 where all staff give anonymous feedback about their manager.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/voicesfromeurope\/2018\/08\/08\/summer-thermometer-how-to-check-the-temperature-of-your-office-culture\/?sh=692f9a3c5fad\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Writing in Forbes<\/a>, founder of Rungway workplace advice platform, Julie Chakraverty, says, \u201cTo\u2026 uncover hidden attitudes and views, you need to ask your employees how they feel. Lead by example by being fully open and transparent\u2026 [and] empower your employees to share their opinions and give honest feedback.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The change in how data leaks happen, with more employees triggering them, should give every business pause for thought. Bringing leadership focus back to workplace culture and employee wellbeing has always paid dividends across the business, but we now understand its crucial importance in keeping data safe.<\/p>\n<p>Regular, targeted cybersecurity education, strong cyber hygiene and understanding how everyone in your organization is feeling should be central to your data protection strategy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New research finds one large group in every business is increasingly behind data leaks. What can business leaders do?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2731,"featured_media":47778,"template":"","coauthors":[4434],"class_list":{"0":"post-47777","1":"emagazine","2":"type-emagazine","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"emagazine-category-data-breaches","7":"emagazine-category-leadership","8":"emagazine-tag-employees","9":"emagazine-tag-research"},"hreflang":[{"hreflang":"x-default","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/heathrow-airport-cybersecurity-education\/44618\/"},{"hreflang":"en-us","url":"https:\/\/usa.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/heathrow-airport-cybersecurity-education\/26612\/"}],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/emagazine\/47777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/emagazine"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/emagazine"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=47777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}