Insider threats are cyber security vulnerabilities that come from within your organisation. It could be an employee, partner, or contractor, who misuses their access rights intentionally or accidentally, or carelessly leaves themselves open to cyber criminals.
Whilst these are not the most common cyber attacks, internal threats can be more costly. Reports have shown a data breach initiated internally can cost around 9.5% more than a breach from the outside and expose up to 5 times more data records.
What are the 3 types of insider threats?
Malicious insider threat actors
These are usually disgruntled employees or former employees who have not had their access rights revoked. Their aim is usually revenge or financial gain.
Compromised insider threat actors
This is a compromised employee whose credentials have been stolen by hackers. This is usually the result of falling victim to a social engineering attack.
Negligent insider threat actors
These are employees who create vulnerabilities in your cyber security through their carelessness or lack of cyber security awareness. They could fall foul to a phishing attack, misplace their company laptop or practice poor password management.
In 2022, 56% of insider threat breaches were due to negligence.
5 ways to prevent insider threats
#1. Establish a strong cyber security culture
Highlighting the importance of cyber security to all levels and departments of your organisation will nurture a strong cyber security culture.
Awareness training should be delivered to everyone periodically. It’s important the training is relevant, engaging and up to date with the latest threats. Often, the best way to achieve this is to use an external cyber security specialist team.
An incident report plan is also important. This document will assign cyber security responsibilities to everyone in your team. It’s easy to place the onus solely on the IT manager but everyone has a part to play.
The plan should direct users on what to do in the event of a breach, how to report suspicious behaviour inside or outside your organisation, and a training register to ensure all users are up to date.
#2. Offensive security tactics
Offensive security is a tactic that can be conducted by cyber security professionals in which a data breach attempt is simulated. A little like a fire drill, a ‘fake’ phishing email may be circulated among some of your team to see how they respond.
Not only is this good practice for employees on what to look for and how to react, but drills like this can also be a deterrent for malicious insiders.
#3. Set access limits
Don’t be tempted to grant full access to all for ease. The more machines that have access to sensitive information, the more exposed that data is in the event of a cyber attack.
There may also be files and documents that should only be accessed in the most secure environment i.e. in the office. You can adopt an AI tool to help with this. AI can adjust privileges based on a user’s location and put restrictions in place when a foreign network is detected as well as working to spot anomalies in user behaviour for added peace of mind.
#4. Layered security
From encrypting documents and files to implementing MFA, layering your cyber security significantly reduces the risk of a breach. That negligent employee we mentioned may have misplaced their laptop again but the chances of a hacker gaining access have been narrowed.
#5. Corporate password manager
Do you walk through the office and see yellow notes on screens? Shockingly, 40% of organisations still use sticky notes to remember passwords. The way to combat this risk is to introduce a corporate password manager and as cyber security specialists, we recommend them to everyone.
Not only do they hold a record of passwords to prevent the user from writing them down, they auto-generate complex passwords and use advanced encryption to protect their login credentials.
We can help you upgrade your cyber security
As the risk of cyber crime grows, we know that cyber security has never been more important for businesses.
At Jupiter IT, we offer expert cyber security and IT support in Hull and the surrounding areas. Every client benefits from a free cyber security audit and free cyber security awareness training tailored to their employees’ needs.
Drop us a line to find out more and book your session.
