Gurucul Report Finds Complex IT Environments Are Main Cause of Insider Threats

Insider Risk Management teams stress the need for unified visibility amidst rising insider attacks 

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Gurucul announced today that its 2024 Insider Threat Report revealed the drivers of insider attacks, with growing IT complexity ranking first. The report from Gurucul and Cybersecurity Insiders is based on the insights of more than 400 IT and cybersecurity professionals to capture the latest trends, challenges and best practices in managing insider threats. It provides a comprehensive overview of how organizations are addressing these critical security challenges today. The report is available for download.

The landscape of insider risk management continues to evolve rapidly, driven by increasing complexities in IT environments, the adoption of hybrid work models, and knowledge workers' increased adoption of sophisticated GenAI tools. Organizations need the right tools, processes, and resources to quickly, accurately and ethically identify insider threat risks. Many platforms don't provide the complete data visibility and high-fidelity threat detections needed.

Gurucul's report unearthed these key points:

• What drives insider attacks: Complicated IT environments (39%), newly adopted technologies (37%) and poor security (33%) are the top three factors responsible for the skyrocketing number of insider attacks. These insights reveal the areas companies must address.
• Attacks are expensive and more frequent: 48% of companies said they've had more insider attacks in the previous 12 months, and 51% of respondents had six or more attacks in that time. For 29% of companies, the average remediation cost surpassed $1 million.
• The price tag for cyber-attacks: 32% of organizations estimated the average cost to remediate an insider attack was $100,000 to $500,000; 27% set this cost at $500,000 to $1 million. Another 21% noted their cost was $1-2 million, with 8% estimating the cost to exceed $2 million. Just 12% said their cost was under $100,000.
• Tools Gap: While 50% of respondents have a partially integrated solution, 28% of organizations still rely on limited integration, managing visibility through separate, non-integrated tools, 17% have altogether insufficient tooling, and 20% use disparate systems for monitoring users, applications, and devices, revealing a significant tools gap

Saryu Nayyar, CEO and founder, Gurucul, said: "From increasingly sophisticated cyber threats to rapid changes in the market and in technologies, organizations today face a myriad of cybersecurity challenges. Our report revealed that organizations are struggling with an increasing number of insider attacks, which can devastate a business. A strong cybersecurity strategy that incorporates next-generation threat detection, investigation and response technology is a key component in winning the battle against these and other threats."

Methodology: In conjunction with Cybersecurity Insiders, Gurucul's 2024 Insider Threat Report is based on a comprehensive online survey of 413 cybersecurity professionals, conducted in August 2024, to gain deep insight into the latest trends, key challenges, and solutions for insider threat management.

About Gurucul

Gurucul is a security analytics company founded in data science that delivers radical clarity about cyber risk. We analyze enterprise data at scale using machine learning and native, secure artificial intelligence. Instead of useless alerts, you get real-time, actionable information about true threats. Our cloud-native platform is open and flexible, so it accommodates your environment and processes. Deploy it anywhere, use any data lake, and integrate it with any security tool. To learn more, visit gurucul.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

SOURCE Gurucul