05 Feb 2009

Former employees 'pose security danger'

Ex-staff can be a threat to a business' security infrastructure, an expert in the sector claims.

Diana Kelley, PCI analyst and founder of SecurityCurve, says the protection of critical information is vital in light of current worldwide job cuts.

She comments: "A significant amount of theft and sabotage occurs from those with access inside the firewall. We strongly recommend that companies make strategic efforts to manage critical assets and systems against insider attacks."

Employing threat detectors may offer a way of securing against attacks at all times and help to put security managers' minds at rest, Ms Kelley asserts.

Gord Boyce, president of network access control specialists Forescout, says detection devices add an additional layer of control to enable access to resources "at all times".

Last week, industry expert Seth Bromberger told IDG News the economic downturn is giving vengeful ex-staff extra impetus to commit data theft.