Firms told to tighten security to fight enemy within

Deep Secure quizzed 1,500 office workers across the UK, and found that 45% would consider selling company and client data if approached by a third party.

Nearly three in five (59%) admitted to taking company information from a corporate network or device, while 47% admitted supplying company data to a third party.

Deep Secure also found that in some cases, workers would require very little motivation to disclose sensitive data, with 25% of employees suggesting they would be open to selling data for as little as £1,000.

Meanwhile, one in ten respondents said they would also sell intellectual property, such as product specifications, product code and patents, for £250 or less.

Deep Secure chief executive Dan Turner urged companies to have strong security measures throughout their business.

He said: "With nearly half of all office workers admitting that they would sell their company and clients’ most sensitive and valuable information, the business risk is not only undisputable but immense in the age of GDPR, where customers no longer tolerate data breaches.

"Given the prevalent use of digital and cyber tactics to exfiltrate this information, it’s critical that businesses invest in a security posture that will help them both detect and prevent company information from leaving the network."