August 27, 2015 By Shane Schick 2 min read

Despite the benefits, many large enterprises have been extremely worried about the security risk of moving their IT infrastructure to the cloud. But researchers say it’s only 1 percent of employees who represent 75 percent of the potential danger.

In its “Q3 2015 Cybersecurity Report,” a study that examined the behavior of some 10 million people, security vendor CloudLock found that the 1 percent — not to be confused with the extremely wealthy portion of the population targeted by the Occupy movement — cause one security risk after another. This includes using cloud-based software that isn’t authorized by an IT department, sharing their passwords and other files and falling victim to phishing schemes that lead to malware infections on corporate machines.

Unfortunately, it may be difficult to pinpoint who the 1 percent are in any given organization. As CSO Online reported, they could be anyone from senior management to support staff, and a security risk could be triggered by different people at different times. The main point, given the fact that many organizations feel they don’t have enough resources to address all threats, is that they can probably minimize them by focusing on a subset of their entire personnel.

The other main takeaway, CloudLock told BetaNews, is that the greatest security risk involves people rather than technology. The better an organization understands how its staff members behave — particularly those with high clearance or other access privileges — the better they’ll be able to contain dangers posed by the 1 percent who lead to most of the problems.

One way to start, CloudTech suggested, is by enlisting those same people as participants in a data protection strategy. This may sound like common sense, but giving a small concentration of individuals access to or control over the majority of corporate files may be a bigger security risk than failing to update IT equipment or patch software programs.

Of course, this doesn’t mean defending against cloud-related breaches is purely an HR issue. ZDNet recently published details from a study by market research firm Forrester that showed spending on products to minimize security risk is expected to reach $2 billion by 2020. This combination of products and people is essential to strong cybersecurity.

More from

Hive0137 and AI-supplemented malware distribution

12 min read - IBM X-Force tracks dozens of threat actor groups. One group in particular, tracked by X-Force as Hive0137, has been a highly active malware distributor since at least October 2023. Nominated by X-Force as having the “Most Complex Infection Chain” in a campaign in 2023, Hive0137 campaigns deliver DarkGate, NetSupport, T34-Loader and Pikabot malware payloads, some of which are likely used for initial access in ransomware attacks. The crypters used in the infection chains also suggest a close relationship with former…

Unveiling the latest banking trojan threats in LATAM

9 min read - This post was made possible through the research contributions of Amir Gendler.In our most recent research in the Latin American (LATAM) region, we at IBM Security Lab have observed a surge in campaigns linked with malicious Chrome extensions. These campaigns primarily target Latin America, with a particular emphasis on its financial institutions.In this blog post, we’ll shed light on the group responsible for disseminating this campaign. We’ll delve into the method of web injects and Man in the Browser, and…

Crisis communication: What NOT to do

4 min read - Read the 1st blog in this series, Cybersecurity crisis communication: What to doWhen an organization experiences a cyberattack, tensions are high, customers are concerned and the business is typically not operating at full capacity. Every move you make at this point makes a difference to your company’s future, and even a seemingly small mistake can cause permanent reputational damage.Because of the stress and many moving parts that are involved, businesses often fall short when it comes to communication in a crisis.…

Topic updates

Get email updates and stay ahead of the latest threats to the security landscape, thought leadership and research.
Subscribe today