Most common insider threats in the U.S. 2020

Published by
Ani Petrosyan,
Dec 10, 2024
A 2020 study found that data exfiltration was the most common type of insider threat, followed by privilege misuse. Data exfiltration accounted for 62 percent of insider threats caused by employees and contractors. The loss of sensitive data can cost a business millions of dollars and severely damage its reputations.

Most common types of insider threats in the United States in 2020

CharacteristicShare
Data exfiltration 62%
Privilege misuse 19%
Data aggregation/snooping 9.5%
Infrastructure sabotage 5.1%
Circumvention of IT controls 3.8%
Account sharing 0.6%
Showing entries 1 to 6 (6 entries in total)
Created with Highcharts 7.2.2Share62%62%19%19%9.5%9.5%5.1%5.1%3.8%3.8%0.6%0.6%Data exfiltrationPrivilege misuseData aggregation/snoopingInfrastructure sabotageCircumvention of IT controlsAccount sharing
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%

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Source

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Release date

May 2020

Region

United States

Survey time period

2020

Number of respondents

300 incidents

Special properties

across 8 different industry verticals

Supplementary notes

The source defines insider threat as follows:
An insider threat is the risk posed by employees or contractors regarding the theft of sensitive data, misuse of their access privileges, or fraudulent activity that puts the organization’s reputation and brand at risk. The insider’s behavior can be malicious, complacent, or ignorant, which in turn can amplify the impact to the organization resulting in monetary and reputational loss.

The source does not provide exact information regarding the date of survey. Region presumed.

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