Spire Research and Consulting was commissioned by Halodata, a provider of information security solutions, to look at the problem of insider threats. The Insider Threats Survey 2022 was conducted at the Smart Cybersecurity Summit, which was held in April 2022 at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. Event participants came from industries such as finance, technology, software, and education. Survey respondents hailed from a variety of departments, such as IT operations, CISO, SOC management and risk management. The survey also covered a representative range of enterprise sizes, with 28% being SMEs and a fifth having more than 10,000 employees.

The report found that insider threats are a pressing issue that has been exacerbated by the pandemic. With 11% of enterprises experiencing at least one insider attack in the past 12 months, 90% of respondents feel that their organizations are vulnerable to insider attacks. The Covid-19 pandemic threw a spanner into the works with work-from-home (WFH) arrangements and high staff turnover rates. 51% of respondents believe that insider attacks have increased since the beginning of the pandemic, and 70% agree that risk has increased with WFH.

Yet not many enterprises are sufficiently prepared to deal with such threats, with only 29% dealing with insider threats proactively and 36% possessing formal programs that combat threats beyond the IT-related divisions. Cultural factors may be at play, as 64% feel that Asian values negatively impact the organization’s outlook towards insider threat.