It’s easy to assume most, if not all, data breaches are malicious. Surely, attackers strike on purpose. However, almost two-thirds of data breaches start from mistakes, not an intent to cause harm. According to the Cost of Insider Threats Report from Ponemon, negligent employees create around 62% of security incidents, costing an average of $307,111 per incident.
From there, you might also assume accidental breaches would be less harmful. According to a study conducted by Aberdeen and commissioned by Code42, data breaches from insiders can cost as much as 20% of annual revenue. The impact may be similar regardless of the cause of the attack. However, the best way to handle a non-malicious breach is different than handling one done on purpose.
What Is a Non-Malicious Data Breach?
A non-malicious data breach happens when an employee causes a breach by mistake. Unlike malicious attacks, where an insider uses their access to cause trouble, non-malicious attacks are typically an accident or negligence.
For example, if an employee clicks on a phishing email, then their action may cause ransomware to infect the network. Breaches can also happen if an employee exposes data by mistake that is then stolen. Or ..
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