Dive Brief:
- When recently asked about what security controls should be used to protect businesses from cyber threats, the First Advantage 2015 Cybersecurity Survey of business professionals placed employee background screening at the top of the list, even above the use of anti-malware programs and physical security, according to an article at Claimsjournal.com.
- 60% of respondents said employee background screening is the most important security control that can be put in place to protect organizations. Anti-malware was ranked second, favored by 53%. Physical security and physical access controls ranked third at 39%.
- The survey, from Atlanta-based global background screening firm First Advantage, polled a variety of professionals including human resources, risk management and C-suite executives about their attitudes toward internal and external security threats, Claimsjournal reported.
Dive Insight:
When asked about the importance of background screening of new employees in preventing security risks, 98% agreed that it was at least “somewhat important”. In fact, 57% said it is “extremely important” to do background checks, according to Claimsjournal.
Not only were background checks of new employees deemed highly essential, but the process of doing background checks periodically on existing employees also received high marks. 35% said the process is “somewhat important,” 17% chose “very important” and 19% said that employee re-screening is “extremely important.” Yet despite the priority that re-screening employee backgrounds seems to have, a clear majority (61%) said that re-screening is never done at their workplace.
“The lack of ongoing, periodic background screening of existing employees that occurs is in stark contrast to its recognized importance by the same organizations,” said Mark Silver, chief security officer at First Advantage. “The fact is that an initial background check does not protect an organization in perpetuity. In order to better protect against potential insider-driven breaches, periodic re-screening should be done. Fortunately, technology now allows for groups of employees to be re-screened at once – for a fraction of the cost of the original background check.”
