Employees May Be Biggest Security Threat To Downsizing Organizations

April 22, 2009 - PRLog -- Santa Ana, CA – Jim Kelton, Managing Principal of Altius IT, a Santa Ana based IT Security Audit firm, was recently interviewed by Security Info Watch about the impact of layoffs and financial turmoil on business security.

Security publications, like Security Info Watch, are starting to warn employers about the growing problem of employees that look for security vulnerabilities that can be exploited to harm their employers.

“Layoffs and financial turmoil have been putting organizations in an unprecedented vulnerable position. With employees having knowledge of systems and proprietary information, organizations are looking to security audit experts to help find security gaps and vulnerabilities that disgruntled individuals may use to harm the organization” says Altius IT President, Jim Kelton.

The article quotes Kelton in saying, “One of the most important steps in protecting and managing these risks is to perform a security risk assessment.  The risk assessment helps the organization identify security vulnerabilities as well as meet state and federal privacy laws.”

One piece of advice Kelton gives is, “organizations should remove former employee’s usernames and passwords from organization networks.  In addition, management should confiscate any handbooks or other materials that may detail how to access organization systems.”

To read the entire article please visit: http://www.securityinfowatch.com/root+level/1311249

# # #

Altius Information Technologies, Inc. is a risk management and security audit firm specializing in network security and risk assessments. Altius IT provides risk analysis and customized, prioritized risk response plans to ensure complete and effective risk management for client organizations. Altius Information Technologies, Inc. is headquartered in Orange County, CA. For more information regarding IT security audits and risk assessments, please contact Jim Kelton at (714) 442-6670 or visit http://www.Altius IT.com on the Internet.