Internal threats now pose the biggest risk to companies

Internal threats now represent more than half of all cyber incident cases, with a significant rise observed in the past year, based on information published by Tech Radar.

New data from Orange Cyberdefense reveals that internal threats have escalated to 57%, surpassing external threats for the first time. Employee misuse accounts for 45% of these internal incidents, while hacking remains steady at 31%. The rise in shadow IT, where employees use unapproved tools, and the exploitation of everyday employee behavior by hackers are key drivers. Employee devices are involved in over half of incidents (53%), and identity attacks have also increased from 10% to 17%.

Senior Security Researcher Carl Morris noted that employee misuse can be as damaging as sophisticated breaches, with attackers increasingly using policy workarounds as entry points. Orange Cyberdefense recommends that companies tighten access controls, implement multi-factor authentication, and acknowledge the growing internal risk landscape to shrink their attack surface.

Source: Tech Radar