Employees responsible for 66% of cyber breaches

No less than two-thirds of cyber breaches are caused by employee negligence or malfeasance. Are your organisation’s employees sufficiently cyber-educated and cyber-ring-fenced?

Employees responsible for 66% of cyber breaches

Risk Management News

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The biggest threat to your company’s cybersecurity may be more manageable than you think. The vast majority of cyber breaches are caused not by incontrollable third-party factors, but by human error at the hands of the company’s own employees. A whopping 66% of insurance claims for cyber breaches are caused by employee negligence or malfeasance, says Willis Towers Watson’s 2017 risk survey data.

While technological mitigation tools have historically dominated protection efforts, increasing awareness of human responsibility in cyber breaches have led companies to adopt more people-focused cybersecurity strategies. Building a culture of cybersecurity across all levels and departments is now a top management priority for more than 80% of companies responding to the survey.



The room for growth in the training and education space is significant. In the UK, employers estimate that more than 60% of their employees have an insufficient understanding of cyber risks; even in the US, where employers are more confident in this regard, the same concern exists for 34% of employees.

External threats as a cause of cyber breaches come in a distant second, accounting for 18%; social engineering, cyber extortion, and network business interruptions each accounted for less than 10%.

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