Firms' uber sensitive data slipping into competitors hands

More than a third of IT professionals believe their company's super sensitive data has been handed over to competitors, research has shown.

Ex-employees were named as the most likely source to blame for this form of information loss by 37 per cent of respondents to a poll from Cyber-Ark Software.

Human error was cited by 28 per cent of the 400 senior IT professionals surveyed from the US and UK as the next most likely source. A hack from outside the firm was seen as a less probable reason for competitors gaining company data, with just 10 per cent of respondents highlighting the threat as serious.

Over a quarter of respondents said the customer database was the most popular information being shared with competitors, followed by research and development plans in second with 13 per cent.

"It is the organisation's obligation to protect its sensitive information and intellectual property. Failing to do so, in our opinion, makes the company as bad as those who are abusing their privileged positions," said Adam Bosnian, Cyber-Ark's executive vice president for the Americas and corporate development.

"Let's face it, you might as well sell the information to the highest bidder yourself that way at least you'll have some control over who's got it," Bosnian added.

Insider snooping remains a growing problem in organisations as well, with 41 per cent of respondents admitting to using administrative passwords to spy on sensitive or confidential data. This represents an eight per cent rise from 2008 and 2009.

The customer database was the most popular target for snoopers in the US, while those in the UK found HR records to be more attractive.

Despite this concerning trend, the number of workers who claimed to be able to get past company controls on sensitive business data fell from 77 per cent in 2009 to 61 per cent this year.

"While we understand that human nature and the desire to snoop may never be something we can totally control, we should take heart that fewer are finding it easy to do so, demonstrating that there are increasingly effective controls available to better manage and monitor privileged access rights within organisations," Bosnian added.

A recent report, sponsored by Credant Technologies, showed that IT workers are still guilty of not protecting mobile devices effectively. More than half of the IT security professionals polled admitted to not encrypting USB drives carrying company data.