Former Employees Retain Network Access Which Leads To Breaches

When an employee leaves a job by choice – or not, studies show employers are woefully remiss about removing their access to company servers. OneLogin, a UK-based Identity Access Management firm, questioned over 600 IT management decision-makers. Their study shows an astonishing 58% of former employees maintain their access to company networks after departing. Risky? Very. OneLogin also finds that almost 24% of UK company breaches were perpetrated by ex-employees. It’s a safe bet that when it’s happening in the UK, it’s happening in the US and elsewhere.

CEO’s might like to think disgruntled former employees won’t facilitate cyber-plots against them. But the numbers show that whether a CEO is aware of it or not, that door is often left wide open. That leaves a ton of time for 58% of former employees to do data damage. Alvaro Hoyos, chief security information officer for OneLogin, states “Our study suggests that many businesses are burying their heads in the sand when it comes to this basic, but significant, threat to valuable data, revenue and brand image.”

OneLogin offers suggestions for employers looking to successfully stop ex-employee access to their company data.

• Businesses need to first acknowledge the problem exists, then commit to combatting it effectively.

• When an employee is terminated, automatic de-provisioning plans need to be in place, immediately terminating all access to company data systems and applications. If at all possible, this access should be revoked even before the employee is notified.

• Security information and event management (SIEM) takes an overall assessment of an organization’s IT systems. It seeks to implement a comprehensive approach to security interactions throughout a company’s entire IT program, providing an effective way to integrate and implement effective data security measures.

Former employee data breaches are added to the list of many ongoing cyber-shocks rocking companies around the globe. Combatting security breaches, ransomware, malware and much, much more leave companies wondering what’s next. It’s already become the Wild West for cyber thieves, and employers are driving a stagecoach full of invaluable data directly through it.