MSP Node4's lastest study places insider threats at the forefront of cyber security issues for mid-market companies, surpassing other threats like AI, ransomware, deep fakes, and malware.
The ‘Mid-Market IT Priorities Report 2024’ also highlights other significant risks including DoS attacks, supply chain complications, phishing, zero-day attacks, and scams.
MD Paul Bryce (pictured) attributes the focus on insider threats to recent job changes and an increased reliance on contractors for IT and cyber security skills.
“It might also be linked to long-term, security-related worries, flexible working and the increased potential for cyber attacks on a distributed workforce,” he says.
The study also reveals a shift towards proactive security measures, with 40% of businesses employing dark web intelligence and incident response. Additionally, AI's potential risk is a focus for over a quarter of respondents.
Notably, Less than 15% of mid-market IT leaders handle cyber security internally, with over a third outsourcing to MSPs and most using a mix of both. This approach is driven by data security and compliance needs, a priority for about 25% of those surveyed.
Bryce highlights that despite budget and resource limitations, the study shows that many mid-market organisations are advancing their cyber security measures.
“However, around a quarter of respondents stated that a lack of suitable services from cloud providers, primary tech partners and MSPs was a principal barrier to doing so,” he adds.
“This suggests the mid-market relies increasingly on third-party support to do the heavy lifting for its cyber security strategy implementations — and will lean on it to an even greater degree as cybercriminal threats become even more complex, harder to spot and difficult to repel.”
