Massive Tech Layoffs Continue to Increase Insider Risks for Enterprises

The looming recession is driving big tech companies to reduce their workforce in 2023, with Microsoft being the latest to announce significant layoffs. Salesforce, Amazon, and Alphabet have also reduced headcount in recent weeks after engaging in massive hiring sprees over the past two years.

According to Layoffs.fyi, there were 154,000 layoffs from more than 1,000 tech companies last year. This shift in the hiring market can be incredibly nerve-wracking for employees, especially if they have been directly impacted by layoffs previously. It also presents significant cybersecurity risks to enterprises that aren’t placing enough focus on insider threats. A recent analysis of the DTEX i3 team’s real-life investigations revealed that employee termination was a major threat contributing to corporate system sabotage by malicious insiders.

Disgruntled employees are often jaded by a business that has not shown any steps to alleviate concerns, even after communication attempts. Mass layoffs can drive feelings of mistrust among the employees being let go, and the colleagues that are witnessing their departure. As employees continue to see this news dominate media headlines, it’s more important than ever for enterprise leaders to ensure future layoffs do not put their most critical data at risk.

In order to do this, organizations need to take a proactive and empathetic approach to mitigate insider risks. This could include enforcing device lockdowns on file uploads to personal webmail, file-sharing sites, USB ports, etc. ahead of layoffs to help curb the potential data loss that can occur after announcing a reduction in headcount. Measures like this, combined with Workforce Cyber Intelligence & Security, can have a large impact in preventing successful exfiltration events that often result from layoffs.

The risk of insider threats will continue to increase alongside layoffs. Enterprises require a deeper understanding of how human behaviors and the sequence of these behaviors impact their overall risk posture to develop more effective and efficient threat management programs without infringing on employee privacy.

Learn more about the top insider risk concerns for enterprises in 2023 and how the DTEX Workforce Cyber Intelligence and Security platform can help protect your organization.