Verizon's 2008 Data Breach Investigations Report contradicts the growing belief that organizations have more to fear from threats on the inside rather than external agents, reports InfoWorld.

The research examined 500 breach incidents over the last four years and found that 73 percent involved outsiders. Hacking was the most common means of executing a breach. And attackers aren't using the latest, scariest means to break into systems, according to this article in The Washington Post. Actually, the methods were pretty boring and included random searches for weaknesses or targeting specific software or hardware vulnerabilities.

However, 62 percent of breaches could be traced back to human error. In fact, organizations had established security policies and procedures in 59 percent of data breaches, but failed to actually implement them, notes TMCnet.com.

But don't dismiss the internal threat altogether, cautions the report. It does happen. The report acknowledges that insiders are better at keeping their activities secret.