The significant wave of layoffs in 2024 has brought forth a cybersecurity threat that many business owners overlook – the offboarding of employees. Even well-established brands with robust cybersecurity systems often fail to adequately protect themselves from insider threats.
Last August marked a year since two former Tesla employees, disgruntled after being let go, compromised personal information, including names, addresses, phone numbers, and Social Security numbers of over 75,000 individuals, including employees.
The situation is expected to worsen. According to NerdWallet’s latest report as of May 24, 2024, 298 US based tech companies have laid off 84,600 workers and the numbers are rising. Major layoffs have affected industry giants such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, as well as numerous smaller tech startups, resulting in a total of approximately 257,254 job losses in just the first quarter of 2024.
Whether or not downsizing is on your radar this year, having a robust offboarding process in place is crucial for every business, regardless of size. It’s more than just a routine administrative task; it’s a critical security measure. Failing to promptly revoke access for departing employees can lead to severe business and legal repercussions later on.
Here are some of the key issues at stake:
- Intellectual Property Theft: Departing employees may abscond with sensitive company files, client data, and confidential information stored on personal devices. They could also retain access to cloud based applications like social media or file-sharing platforms (e.g., Dropbox or OneDrive) that IT may overlook or forget to secure. Osterman Research found that 69% of businesses experience data loss due to employee turnover, with 87% of departing employees taking sensitive data with them, often leading to its sale to competitors or its use against their former employer.
- Compliance Breaches: Failing to revoke access privileges and remove ex-employees from authorized user lists can result in noncompliance in heavily regulated industries. This oversight can trigger substantial fines, penalties, and potential legal consequences.
- Data Deletion: Disgruntled employees who retain access to their accounts post-termination could delete crucial emails and files, potentially causing irretrievable data loss if backups are not in place.
- Data Breaches: Departing employees, particularly those harboring grievances, can inadvertently or deliberately trigger a damaging data breach. This could involve exposing or modifying private information, financial records, or trade secrets, potentially leading to costly legal battles and reputational damage.
Many businesses lack a foolproof offboarding process. A 2024 study by Wing revealed that one in five organizations had evidence of improper offboarding practices, highlighting potential vulnerabilities that savvy individuals could exploit.
So, how do you properly manage the offboarding process?
- Implement the Principle of Least Privilege: Ensure that access privileges are strictly tailored to what each employee needs to perform their job. This strategy should be meticulously documented to simplify the offboarding process.
- Utilize Automation: Leverage automation tools to streamline the revocation of access across multiple software applications simultaneously. This approach saves time, reduces errors, and enhances security.
- Implement Continuous Monitoring: Employ monitoring software to track user activity on the company network, facilitating the prompt identification of unauthorized access attempts or suspicious behavior by former employees.
These measures represent just a few ways your IT team can enhance the efficiency and security of your offboarding procedures. Insider threats are a real and formidable risk. To ascertain if there are any vulnerabilities in your offboarding process that could expose you to theft or a data breach, our team offers a complimentary, comprehensive risk assessment. Contact us at (973)828-0488 or click www.ibsre.com to schedule now.
Protecting your organization requires proactive measures. Don’t assume it can’t happen to you; take steps today to safeguard your business from insider threats and potential data breaches.