Arik Hesseldahl reminds us that a security breach is a serious matter for any company, large or small. When it happens, anger and finger-pointing are likely to follow. However, findings revealed by a new survey on security trends, indicate that the culprit might just be human error and the failure of IT professionals to follow polices and procedures. Carelessness also ranks high among the reasons companies get hit with security breaches.

For some reason, human error seems to be on the increase. According to IBM’s Security Intelligence Index, 95 percent of recorded security incidents are the result of human error. Many of the successful breaches occur when hackers, external, lure organizational insiders into providing them with access to sensitive information. For the most part, these people are lured unwittingly.

The news gets worse! Up to 93 percent of U.S. organizations feel they’re vulnerable to insider security threats. Most companies require background checks for employment, but fail to conduct background checks on a yearly basis. The situation doesn’t seem to be getting any better either. Half the companies in the U.S., when polled, where found to have failed a security audit. These companies are accidents that are waiting to happen. Somewhere, somehow, there’s a solution. In the meantime, it’s business around the world as usual.