Employee access to social media presents the greatest internal security threat to organisations and that organised cybercrime poses the biggest external threat, according to a credit checking product firm.
Employee access to social media (43 per cent) and bring your device to work (35 per cent) are considered to be the biggest obstacles to preventing security breaches and fraud according to fraud prevention managers and directors. The biggest fraud prevention priority for the majority of organisations is creating a fraud aware culture (86 per cent). Yet, this is also considered the hardest priority to address (18 per cent).
The survey of more than 200 fraud prevention managers and directors was commissioned by Callcredit Information Group and found that 56 per cent of UK organisations have already been affected by fraud. Other findings from the research, and trends identified, included:
· Current versus future trends – Organisations see the greatest current security threat as “organised cybercrime” (75 per cent), yet only 26 per cent think this will continue being a threat in two-three years’ time. Instead, over this period, “denial of access” is expected to become the greatest security threat (55 per cent).
· The Brexit impact – More than a quarter (28 per cent) believe that Brexit will lead to an increase in the risk of fraud. Reasons for this perceived increased threat were reported to be “reduced information sharing” (50 per cent) and “increased trade with non EU countries” (46 per cent). The research, one of the first surveys of fraud and risk professionals since the EU referendum, also revealed that almost half (41 per cent) expect to increase their anti-fraud expenditure following the UK’s decision to leave the EU.
· Biometrics is identified as the biggest priority for organisations as they look to prevent fraud, with 53 per cent expecting to significantly increase their investment in biometric technologies. Consumers should expect to see an increase in other identity verification techniques such as artificial intelligence systems (24 per cent) and voice recognition systems (23 per cent) within the next three years.
John Cannon, director, fraud & ID, Callcredit Information Group said: “As fraud in our society grows, and as geographically mobile individuals increasingly need to establish their digital identity, so the pressure on fraud and risk professionals to protect their organisations and consumers mounts. Our research reveals that more than half of organisations have been affected by fraud, demonstrating that fraud prevention is one of the biggest risk concerns facing global boardrooms.
“Whilst fraud professionals might be confident in their abilities to prevent and deal with a potential breach, our research suggests that employees need much more education on the risks. Explaining the threats, giving them suggestions on how to protect themselves and informing them about ways to spot a breach could be instrumental in protecting a company from cybercrime. Organisations are only as strong as their weakest link, and the entire workforce needs to understand what the cyber vulnerabilities are in order to prevent them.”
