UK businesses are putting themselves at risk due to poor cyber hygiene

Date:
Mon, 16 Mar 2026 10:58:21 +0000

Description:
Employee accounts are a breeding ground for attacks, with poor management, broad permissions, and more.

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Tech Radar Get the TechRadar Newsletter Sign up for
breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are
now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter SailPoint report shows UK firms neglect identity security 77% fail to deactivate ex-employee accounts, fueling credential abuse Outdated manual processes leave thousands of users and AI agents unmanaged Businesses in the UK are putting themselves at plenty of risk, thanks to poor cyber-hygiene and not paying enough attention to identity and access management . This is according to a new report from SailPoint, based on a survey of 333 IT
decision makers from large organizations in the country.

The survey found that the vast majority of businesses (77%) do not
immediately deactivate digital accounts for people who leave the
organization. This creates a security gap that can be abused not just by former employees (who can steal sensitive files and transfer them to a different company), but also by cybercriminals, since these accounts are unmonitored and thus practically invisible. SailPoint says the problem is
even worse than it seems, since a fifth (21%) of the entire UK workforce swapped jobs last year. It also said that incidents stemming from compromised credentials surged by 160% year-on-year, showing just how great the risk really is. Article continues below You may like Passwords are still a problem for UK businesses - what next? Insider threats could be the biggest risk your business faces this year Idle infrastructure might cause your next breach heres how to stop it Broad access and swelling accounts But the problems dont start when employees leave. They start a lot earlier, research has shown, since more than a third (34%) of surveyed businesses admitted to knowingly granting broader access to users.

At the same time, the number of user access points organizations manage on a daily basis is swelling. Besides new employees going in and out, there are also contractors, partners, and suppliers that the businesses need to
monitor. Also, in more recent times, the emergence of automation and agentic AI further complicates things.

On average, organisations have nearly 3,000 (2,754) new users in systems each month. More than a quarter (26%) are onboarding up to 250 new employees every month, while a tenth (12%) are adding as many as 10,000 AI agents and machine identities at the same time.

Finally, the security processes in place today are severely outdated, SailPoint says. More than a third (28%) still rely on spreadsheets and paperwork to validate employee accounts and responsibilities, and a fifth of AI agents (21%) are still being managed manually. Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to the TechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. The best antivirus for all budgets Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons

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