Despite enormous consequences of this addressable challenge, companies continue to expose sensitive information to insider threats, ransomware and other risks.
The 2018 Global Data Risk Report is a consolidated report that captures findings of Data Risk Assessments performed on 130 organizations — a representative sample from more than 30 industry segments and sizes. For this year's report, Varonis analyzed more than 6 billion files, more than double the number in our 2017 report, with an average of 36,242 user accounts, 3,531,978 folders and 48,051,109 files per company.
How much data are we talking here?
The more sensitive information is, the fewer people should be able to access it. Some of the biggest data breaches in the past year - the ones that cost companies billions - stem from a user who had access to files they shouldn’t have been able to see in the first place.
Keeping stale data around is like leaving your old credit cards and bank statements in a pile on the street, waiting for recycling to pick them up. Just because you don’t use it anymore doesn’t mean that the hackers can’t.
Identity theft is just as rampant (and dangerous) in file servers as it is in real life. If you’ve got outdated users with active accounts, it’s like handing over a new set of papers to your hacker.
