02/09/2026
Most businesses think offboarding means removing someone from the email system. The attacker counting on that assumption would like to thank you.
Here is the proof:
1. IBM's Cost of a Data Breach report consistently identifies insider threats - including former employees with retained access - as one of the top breach vectors for SMBs.
2. The average SMB staff member has active accounts across 8 to 15 platforms. Most offboarding processes cover email and maybe one or two others.
3. Former employees with lingering access rarely use it immediately. They wait. The business forgets. Then something happens.
Tell me honestly: if a staff member left your business last year, can you confirm right now that every one of their accounts was revoked?