Dive Brief:

• Employers and HR beware: insider data theft represents a serious, growing threat to business, according to a recent report.
• The report, from Accenture and HfS Research, found 69% of respondents experienced an attempted or successful theft or corruption of data by insiders during the prior 12 months. Media and technology employers reported the highest rate at 77%.
• Even worse, security professionals expect insider theft of corporate information to grow by nearly two-thirds in the next 12 to 18 months. The Accenture survey also uncovered that budget shortages for hiring cybersecurity talent and training employees is hindering the ability of organizations to properly defend themselves against these internal attacks.

Dive Insight:

For HR leaders, “The State of Cybersecurity and Digital Trust 2016” survey findings exposed significant gaps between talent supply and demand, among other people-related issues. Kelly Bissell, senior managing director, Accenture Security, said employers simply don’t have enough budget to recruit or train skilled people to use security technology effectively.
 
In fact, among the five significant gaps disrupting the ability of enterprises to effectively prevent or mitigate well-organized and targeted cyber attacks, 31% list either lack of training or staffing budget as their single biggest inhibitor to combating attacks.

One solution would be to have IT and HR collaborate to resolve these internal data theft issues, according to Accenture.