The ABCs of Insider Threats and How to Address Them

The ABCs of Insider Threats & How to Address Them

What’s the use of a firewall if those within the wall tear it down? The best firewalls and security systems might make no difference when someone with access decides to take your company down. 

How do you ensure your employees don’t unintentionally expose your company to risk? The grim reality is that there is always that person who intentionally or unintentionally puts the company at risk and these kinds of situations are usually the costliest to remediate. 

According to Ponemon’s 2022 “Cost of Insider Threat Global Report,” organizations spend an average of $15.4 million annually on insider threat remediation. This cost and frequency have risen over the last two years. 

Despite this harsh reality, insider threats can still be contained with the right deterrence and detection methods. But you need to understand what insider threats are before identifying them. 

The ABCs of Insider Threats

Insider threats are risks posed by people within an organization who have access to legitimate access through an authorized login to the company systems and data.

This set of people includes business partners, vendors, former employees, current employees, consultants, etc. This category contains anyone you have ever given access to your company’s data.  

Not all these possible actors act in the same way or with the same intention. You can categorize insider threats into three major categories. We’ll call them the ABC of Insider Threats. 

  1. The Negligent Insider

This insider is a person who exposes the company to the risk of attacks through the negligent use of data or failure to comply with the company’s security policies. While this action is usually unintentional, it could have serious repercussions. 

It could be a system administrator misconfiguring a database for the public or an employee who installed a malicious application thinking it would make work faster. These insiders are the most common actors of insider threats, with 56% of incidents in 12 months

  1. The Insider Agent

This insider is someone who has been compromised by a third party to sell out the organization’s data. While this agent might not act, the actor gives access to the third party who does. It is a voluntary action against the organization. 

Former disgruntled employees and employees with financial problems usually fall into this category. In 2019, a Trend Micro employee stole information from the organization’s database and sold it to a malicious third party. 

  1. The Malicious Insider

The threat, in this case, comes from a person with legitimate access to corporate assets who decides to exploit the organization for personal gain. The person might commit fraud or decide to use sensitive data for other purposes. 

This threat can be carried out by someone within the company or even someone leaving the company. For example, an employee that downloads their entire laptop content the day before leaving a company. 

Considering that an organization requires trust to operate, it might seem impossible to contain these threats. But it is possible. You only have to put the right IT security structures in place and detect the threats that manage to slip through your structures. 

How to Address Insider Threats

Dealing with insider threats before they even occur is more important than trying to remediate the situation after the event. We have highlighted a few things your organization needs to do to address insider threats. 

Monitor User Actions

Real-time monitoring of user actions is the most effective insider threat detection and prevention tool you could use. User monitoring software helps you to know what your users are doing in real-time. It also provides evidence in situations where you have to go to court. 

With some software, you can set a baseline of normal behaviors, and you will be alerted when anything strange takes place. Many of these tools provide incident response features and access control. 

Limit Privileged Access

If you have not been using the principle of least privilege, it is time to start applying it. This principle provides that every new account gets the least privileges only. As time goes on, the user can get more access for their job. 

When fewer people have privileged access, you can control what happens with your data. It also means fewer accounts to hack and fewer employees that could make mistakes. This principle also applies to third parties. Only give access when necessary. 

Detect Compromised Accounts Early

Early detection can help you curb the escalation of insider threats. When an account has been compromised by phishing, malware, or web hijack, detecting the threat might make all the difference in the scale of insider threat you’ll have to handle. 

Implementing strong access controls will make it easier to detect unauthorized access. You should also monitor data exfiltration or stop it entirely. These actions will ensure early detection of compromised accounts.  

Watch Your Employees

It would be best if you kept an eye on your employees. Start by carrying out background checks before you employ anyone. A few calls and a Google search can get you the necessary information. Don’t employ people with sketchy backgrounds. 

You should also practice sentiment analysis. Know when your employees are not happy, find out why, and try to keep them happy. Happy employees make for a safer organization. Sudden changes in employee behavior might be an indicator of something fishy. Ensure your HR looks into these sudden changes. 

Have Strong Authentication 

A user ID and password are not enough of a security system. It would help if you had multi-factor authentication (MFA) in place. Even if the attacker gets the password, the MFA might deter them. 

All your employees should also have strong passwords, which should be used on other sites. Employees should also not share access unless necessary. 

In these cases, there should be additional authentication to distinguish each user. There are different enterprise MFA tools that you can easily use. 

Need Help Addressing Insider Threats in Your Organization?

Unbound Digital can help your Johnson City, Tennessee, organization address insider threats and put strong systems in place to reduce your risk of falling victim to an attack.

Contact us today to schedule a consultation. Call 423-467-7777 or reach us online.