{"id":37392,"date":"2022-10-23T14:54:36","date_gmt":"2022-10-23T11:54:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saudishopper.com.sa\/en\/?p=37392"},"modified":"2026-03-28T02:01:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T23:01:16","slug":"only-42-of-smb-leaders-in-ksa-are-confident-that-ex-employees-cant-access-the-companys-digital-assets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saudishopper.com.sa\/en\/only-42-of-smb-leaders-in-ksa-are-confident-that-ex-employees-cant-access-the-companys-digital-assets\/","title":{"rendered":"Only 42% of SMB leaders in KSA are confident that ex-employees can\u2019t access the company\u2019s digital assets\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A <\/strong><\/a>recent Kaspersky study on the behavior of small and medium businesses in KSA during crises<\/strong> shows staff reductions may cause additional cybersecurity risks. Yet only 42% of organizations\u2019 leaders are confident that their ex-employees don\u2019t have access to company data stored in cloud services, and just 48% are sure that former workers can\u2019t use corporate accounts. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While,\u00a0<\/a>according to studies<\/a>\u00a0team retention was the top priority for almost half of organizations throughout the pandemic, many businesses still might have to\u00a0resort to job cuts<\/a>\u00a0in order to reduce costs during hard times.\u00a0Kaspersky surveyed more than 1.300 business leaders in small and medium-sized organizations to learn what tactics they chose to keep their business afloat, and what cybersecurity risks anti-crisis measures could bring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given that almost half of respondents couldn\u2019t confidently claim that their ex-employees didn\u2019t have access to their company\u2019s digital assets, reductions in staffing may put the safety of data and company livelihood at additional risks. Ex-employees misuse of data in new jobs or to drum up business for themselves were major concerns for bosses. The survey results suggest that most business leaders worried that former employees will share the company’s internal data with new employers (66%) or use corporate such as previous client databases, to launch their own business (70%). Overall, 30% of respondents consider reductions in employment as a possible measure to cut costs in case of a crisis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where would SMBs business leaders cut costs in case of a crisis?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnauthorized access can become a huge problem for any business, affecting the competitiveness of a company when corporate data is transferred to a competitor, sold off, or deleted<\/em>\u201d- explains Alexey Vovk, Head of Information Security at Kaspersky. \u201cThis problem becomes more complicated when employees actively use non-corporate or \u201cshadow IT\u201d services which are not deployed or controlled by corporate IT departments.\u00a0If the usage of these services is not managed after an employee is dismissed, there is little chance that access to information shared via these applications will be shut off for a former worker\u201d.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make sure that uncontrolled accesses and shadow IT won\u2019t affect your company\u2019s efficiency and security, Kaspersky recommends the following steps:  <\/p>\n\n\n\n