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Cost of Insider Threats: Global Report 2020

Ponemom Institute: The Cost of Insider Threats: Global Report 2020: “Ponemon Institute is pleased to present the findings of the 2020 Cost of Insider Threats: Global study. Sponsored by ObserveIT and IBM, this is the third benchmark study conducted to understand the direct and indirect costs that result from insider threats. The first study was conducted in 2016 and focused exclusively on companies in the United States. Represented in this study are companies located in North America, Europe, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region. In the context of this research, insider threats occur because of the following:

  • A negligent or inadvertent employee or contractor,
  • A criminal or malicious insider or
  • A credential thief.

The key takeaway is that the costliest insider threat per incident is theft of credentials. These incidents have increased significantly in frequency and cost. In fact, the frequency of incidents per company has tripled since 2016 from an average of 1 to 3.2 and the average cost has increased from USD $493,093 to USD $871,686 in 2019. On an annual basis, organizations are spending more to deal with insider negligence but the per incident cost is much lower. We interviewed 964 IT and IT security practitioners in 204 organizations in North America (United States and Canada), Europe, Middle East & Africa and Asia-Pacific. Interviews were completed in September 2019. Each organization experienced one or more material events caused by an insider. These organizations experienced a total of 4,716 insider incidents over the past 12 months. Our targeted organizations were business organizations with a global headcount of 1,000 or more employees. Each organization experienced one or more material events caused by an insider. These organizations experienced a total of 4,716 insider incidents over the past 12 months. Our targeted organizations were business organizations with a global headcount of 1,000 or more employee…”

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