Layoffs Fuel 35% Increase in Data Theft by Departing Employees, According to DTEX Systems 2023 Insider Risk Investigations Report

 SAN JOSE, Calif. – March 16, 2022 – DTEX Systems, the global leader for Insider Risk and Threat Management, today announced the release of its 2023 Insider Risk Investigations Report. The annual report, based on real investigations and data collected by the DTEX Insider Intelligence and Investigations (i³) Team throughout 2022, identifies a significant increase in corporate IP and data theft incidents, the Human Resources department’s growing role in cybersecurity, and notable new trends impacting the insider risk landscape due to the rise of employee attrition.

Notable findings of the Report include:

• During the first half of 2022, the DTEX i³ Team saw a 20% increase in voluntary turnover compared with pre-pandemic levels. This coincided with a 35% increase in data theft incidents caused by employees leaving companies
• 12% of employees take sensitive IP with them when they leave an organization including customer data, employee data, health records, sales contracts, and more
• 75% of investigation requests were managed by human resources in the second half of 2022
• Unsanctioned 3^rd-party work on corporate devices increased nearly 200%
• Unsanctioned application usage increased by 55%

Over the last year, organizations have struggled to strike the balance between security and privacy as they grapple with a rise in voluntary turnover, inflationary pressures, and mass layoffs driven by a looming recession. Investigations performed by the DTEX i³ Team in 2022 illuminate the growing importance of acknowledging and understanding the human element impacting organizations’ security posture to mitigate risk in this new era of work.

This year’s Report illustrates a direct correlation between threat severity and methods of exfiltration and unveils six unique indicators that serve as early warning signs of insider risk. The report also offers a strategic framework to help enterprise executives and decision makers communicate with their employees based on the level of risk they pose to an organization.

“As the insider risk landscape continues to evolve, visibility into behaviors and actions is essential to mitigating organizational risk,” said Rajan Koo, Chief Customer Officer and DTEX Head of i³ Investigations & Engineering. “Understanding why employees behave the way they do enables executive leadership to determine specific indicators can be used to identify risk early in the insider threat kill chain to enforce strategies for mitigation.”

The findings and insights detailed within this report are drawn from hundreds of insider incidents and User Threat Assessments conducted alongside DTEX customers and prospects around the world.

To download the full 2023 Insider Risk Investigations Report, please visit: https://www2.dtexsystems.com/insider-risk-investigations-report-2023.

About DTEX Systems
DTEX Systems helps hundreds of organizations worldwide better understand their workforce, protect their data, and make human-centric operational investments. Its Workforce Cyber Intelligence & Security platform brings together next-generation Zero Trust DLP, UEBA, digital forensics, user activity monitoring and insider threat management in one scalable, cloud-native platform. Through its patented and privacy-compliant meta-data collection and analytics engine, the DTEX platform surfaces abnormal behavioral “indicators of intent” to mitigate risk of data and IP loss, enabling SOC enrichment with human sensors and empowering enterprises to make smarter business decisions quickly. To learn more about DTEX Systems, please visit www.dtexsystems.com.