infographic
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BeyondTrust’s annual Privileged
Access Threat Report highlights
that greater privileged access
visibility and improved
integrations are vital to tackling
the modern threat landscape.
22
BeyondTrust, a global leader in
privileged access management, has
released the 2019 Privileged Access
Threat Report.
In its fourth edition, the global survey
explores the visibility, control and
management that IT organisations
across the globe – including the
UAE and Saudi Arabia – have over
employees, contractors and third-
party vendors with privileged access
to their IT networks.
According to the report, 64% believe
they’ve likely had either a direct or
indirect breach due to misused or
abused employee access in the last
12 months and 62% believe they’ve
had a breach due to compromised
vendor access.
Poor security hygiene by employees
continues to be a challenge for
most organisations. Writing down
passwords, for example, was cited as
a problem by 60% of organisations,
while colleagues telling each other
passwords was also an issue for 58%
of organisations, a steady increase
from 2018’s statistics.
The report also highlighted regional
differences, with only 28% of Middle
East businesses expressing worries
about employees downloading data
onto a memory stick, while 42% see
this as an issue in APAC.
Ultimately, 71% of organisations
agree that they would be more
secure if they restricted employee
device access. However, this isn’t
usually realistic, let alone conducive
to productivity.
“Both internal employees and
third-party vendors need privileged
access to be able to do their jobs
effectively but need this access
granted in a way that doesn’t
compromise security or impede
productivity,” commented
MOREY HABER, CTO AND CISO
OF BEYONDTRUST. “In the face
of growing threats, there has never
been a greater need to implement
organisation-wide strategies and
In the face of
growing threats,
there has never
been a greater
need to implement
organisation-
wide strategies
and solutions to
manage and control
privileged access in
a way that fits the
needs of the user.
solutions to manage and control
privileged access in a way that fits the
needs of the user.”
The businesses surveyed reported
an average of 182 vendors logging
in to their systems every week. At
organisations with 5,000+ employees,
23% say they have more than 500
vendors logging in regularly, highlighting
the sheer scope of the risk exposure.
This year’s report uncovered that
trust in vendor access is now lower
than trust in employee access, with
only one in four (25%) saying they
completely trust vendors, in comparison
to 37% of employees. This is a stark
comparison to last year’s report, where
72% of businesses admitted that they
have cultures that are too trusting of
third parties.
The report also delves into the threats
posed by emerging technologies. The
risks associated with the Internet of
Things (IoT) posed a big concern for the
professionals surveyed, with the visibility
of logins from IoT devices revealed as
the most pressing issue. u
Issue 15
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