Ten per cent of professionals are still able to access networks after leaving their jobs.
According to research by Lieberman Software, 13 per cent of IT security professionals admit to being able to access previous employers’ systems using their old credentials. The survey of 270 IT professionals found that 23 per cent can get into their previous two employers’ systems using old credentials, and more than 16 per cent admit to still having access to systems at all previous employers.
Philip Lieberman, CEO and President of Lieberman Software, said: “The results of this research shows that a fundamental lack of IT security awareness in enterprises, particularly in the arena of controlling privileged logins, is potentially paving the way for a further wave of data breaches.
“Organisations must implement a policy where privileged account passwords are automatically updated on a frequent basis, with unique and complex values. That way, when an employee does leave the company, he is not taking the password secrets that can gain access to highly sensitive systems.
“Basic security best practices include minimizing the insider threat and sophisticated criminal hackers by managing the powerful privileged passwords that grant access to systems containing sensitive data.”
The survey also found that nearly 84 per cent of organisations have a policy to ensure contractors cannot access corporate systems after they leave the company; however, more than 16 per cent of respondents admit that their organisation either does not have such a policy, or they are not aware of one.
