Corporate Cybersecurity Can Only Be As Strong As Your Weakest Link

While corporate executives are increasingly becoming aware of their obligation to be informed of cybersecurity threats and the steps being taken by their company to prevent data breaches, it is equally important for executives to ensure that the employees are educated with respect to cyber threats. The data breach prevention protocol of a company may only be as strong as its weakest link.

Negligence or recklessness by a company's employee which contributes to a successful data breach may expose the company to liability. For example, employees may create risk by negligently clicking on what is deemed to be an obvious phishing link, or recklessly updating social media. 

The scope of negligence in the cyber context remains largely unexplored by case law. However, given the increasing awareness of the frequency and nature of cyber threats, the standard of care owed by a company to those individuals whose personal data is stored may expand. With this expanded duty,