Insider Threats recall that the Weakest Link in Cybersecurity is Humans
People are frequently the weakest link in the security chain and are repeatedly to blame for the failure of security measures, whether consciously or unconsciously.
I have always recruited employees with a great attitude and who can be trusted. Then I look for technical or other skills in the candidates under consideration. It is important to know that human beings are the weakest link in any successful company and its values. The same is true for the organization's cybersecurity posture.
by Dr. Shekhar Pawar
Table of Contents
Have you encountered any of the following scenarios?
Who is an Insider?
What is an Insider Threat?
Insider Threat Statistics
Effective Measures To Prevent Insider Attacks
Have you encountered any of the following scenarios? If yes, these are “insider threats."
- An employee joins the competitor company and shares the product designs, customer data, or trade secrets of an earlier employer.
- The company's pricing strategy is shared by the sales manager with competitors.
- An employee gives his credentials and/or a company asset, such as a laptop, etc., to another person or entity, which can be used for malicious or harmful intents.
- An employee steals product designs, customer data, or trade secrets and sells them to a rival.
- Operations are harmed when a maintenance worker cuts network server wires and/or creates a fire.
- A manager steals trade secrets, client information, or product designs and sells them to a competitor.
- A customer service agent transmits client contact information to a personal account so they may utilize it when starting their own business or with a future employer.
- A database administrator sells client financial information on the dark web using that information.
- An employee assists with Piggybacking, also known as tailgating, is when a person closely follows another person who is permitted to enter a building or other secure institution without displaying credentials or demonstrating that they are also authorized to do so.
- Several employees are shot or killed by a worker who carries a gun to work.
Who is an Insider?
Anyone with allowed access to or knowledge of an organization's resources, including its employees, facilities, information, equipment, networks, and systems, is considered an insider.
An insider is -
- A person the organization trusts, such as its members, workers, and anybody else it has given access to or sensitive information.
- A person who receives a badge or other access token designating them as having regular or ongoing access (e.g., an employee or member of an organization, contractor, vendor, janitor, repairman).
- A person who has been given access to a computer or network by an organization.
- A person who creates the goods and services that the company offers, especially those with knowledge of its valuable products' secrets.
- A person who is familiar with the fundamentals of the company, such as pricing, costs, and its advantages and disadvantages.
- A person who is privy to the organization's business strategy, goals, and future plans as well as the resources needed to maintain the firm and ensure the welfare of its workforce.
- A person with access to private information that, if compromised, might jeopardize public safety and national security in the context of government operations.
What is an Insider Threat?
A current or former employee, contractor, or business partner who has or had authorized access to a company's network systems, data, or premises may pose an insider threat if they use that access to compromise the organization's network systems, data, or premises' confidentiality, integrity, or availability, whether consciously or unconsciously. Theft of intellectual property (IP) or trade secrets, illegal trading, espionage, and sabotage of IT infrastructure are a few examples of insider risks. In other words, the risk that an insider would intentionally or unintentionally harm the Department's purpose, resources, staff, facilities, information, equipment, networks, or systems using their permitted access. The following insider behaviors can cause harm to the Department as a result of this threat: espionage, terrorism, unauthorized information disclosure, corruption, including involvement in transnational organized crime, sabotage, workplace violence, and intentional or unintentional loss of departmental resources or capabilities.
By being negligent, insiders can put an organization at danger. Even the best employee may be unaware or naive and make a mistake that puts the business at unintentional risk. Few insiders may also purposefully operate in a way that harms an organization in order to further their own interests or address personal grievances.
Insider threats may affect organizations of all sizes and types, including family-owned small businesses, small and medium-sized firms, Fortune 100 corporations, municipal, state, and public infrastructure, as well as important federal departments and agencies. Every firm needs an efficient program that can safeguard crucial resources, prevent violent acts, deal with unexpected mishaps, stop the loss of money or intellectual property, avoid the compromise of sensitive information, and avoid many other undesirable events.
Insider Threat Statistics
Insider threats pose a complex and continuously changing collection of concerns that businesses cannot afford to ignore, yet being challenging to define. Since of the way costs are calculated and because insider threat instances are significantly underreported, it is difficult to determine the yearly losses caused by insider threats across all industries. No of the size of the firm, insider threats pose a real concern and might result in exorbitant costs. Organizations may suffer catastrophic financial effects, particularly those with less than 500 employees.
- Insider threats are the root cause of 60% of data breaches (Goldstein, 2020).
- In the past year, insider assaults have increased in frequency, as reported by 68 percent of firms (Cybersecurity Insiders, 2020).
- Since 2018, the number of cybersecurity incidents triggered by insiders has climbed by 47% (ObserveIT, 2020).
- According to a different estimate, insider data breaches will become more common by 8% by 2021 (Shey, 2020).
- Insider attacks occurred in 61 percent of businesses in the previous year (Bitglass, 2020).
- More than 20 insider assaults occurred in 60 percent of the firms per year (IBM, 2020).
- Privilege IT users are considered by 63% of businesses to be the top insider security threat to their operations (Cybersecurity Insiders, 2020).
- The top insider threat actors, according to 60% of the firms, are managers who have access to sensitive information. Contractors and consultants come in second (57%), then regular workers (51% ) (Bitglass, 2020)
- 78% of respondents said their practices for controlling IT privileges aren't very effective (Cybersecurity Insiders, 2020).
- The top three reasons for insider assaults are fraud (55%), financial gain (49%), and IP theft (44%) (Fortinet, 2019).
- In only two years, the average yearly cost of insider threats has risen, increasing 31% to $11.45 million (ObserveIT, 2020).
- 86% of businesses feel it is somewhat to extremely difficult to assess the true cost of an insider assault (Cybersecurity Insiders, 2020).
- The exact cost of a significant security breach is difficult to calculate, yet 50% of firms believe their estimate is less than $100,000. 34% of respondents stated they anticipate damages to be in the range of $100,000 and $500,000 (Cybersecurity Insiders, 2020).
- The average cost of insider threats to businesses in North America was $13.3 million annually. The Middle East came in second with $11.65 million. The expense for Europe was $9.82 million, while the expense for Asia-Pacific was $7.89 million (IBM, 2020).
- The amount spent defending against insider threats depends on the sector and size of the business. Over the last year, large firms (those with more than 75,000 workers) spent $17.92 million on average. Smaller businesses (those with less than 500 employees) on the other hand, spent an average of $7.68 million (ObserveIT, 2020).
- Financial services ($14.50 million) spent the most on safeguards against insider risks across all industries. With $12.31 million and $12.30 million, respectively, the services industry and the technology and software sector are next (IBM, 2020).
- Companies incur an average loss of $307,000 due to careless insiders. Credential thieves spend $871,000 each occurrence, compared to criminal insiders who cost $756,000 per incidence (ObserveIT, 2020).
- The cost of a single workplace homicide ranges from $250,000 to $1,000,000, according to the Financial Impact of Workplace Violence Report - Assessing the Risk of Workplace Violence.
- According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2,607,900 instances of nonfatal illnesses and injuries were recordable in the private sector in 2021.
Effective Measures To Prevent Insider Attacks
- Instead than only finding those doing wrong, put more of an emphasis on prevention and helping others.
- Safeguard organizational assets while defending rights, freedoms, and privacy.
- To assist detect, identify, analyze, and manage insider risks, educate staff members on insider threat awareness and reporting.
- Adapt an internal threat program and risk tolerance to the specific purpose, culture, key assets, and threat landscape of the business.
- Keep a look out for work-related pressures that might lead to future complaints against your employer, organization, or agency.
- Based on how the insider interacts with others inside the company, observe behavioral indications that represent patterns of activity over time. Peers, HR staff, managers, supervisors, and technical systems may all easily see these symptoms.
- Technical indications are those that must be detected directly using IT systems and technologies. The most popular application for spotting signs of technical insider danger is User Activity Monitoring (UAM).
- Create a reporting and preventive culture that demonstrates and reinforces an organization's commitment to its employees' well-being, as well as its overall resilience and operational success. There are multiple organizational assets that can be integrated:
- HR records and personnel security records
- Travel history
- Records of facility access
- Reports on foreign contacts
- Filings for financial disclosure
- Print logs and network access logs
- IT business audits
- Both public and financial data
- User Activity Monitoring (UAM) logs
- Video surveillance
- Utilize multidisciplinary skills that are supported by technology and/or specialized employees according to the organization's kind, size, culture, nature, business value, and risk tolerance to insider threats.
- To avoid, guard against, and mitigate insider risks, use the good framework of detect, identify, analyze, and manage.
- Create a culture of protection and encouragement, safeguard civil liberties, and uphold confidentiality.
- Create a secure, welcoming atmosphere where those who could be a threat can be located and assisted before they can do damage.
- Improve physical security measures and create a team (or teams) to audit workplace violence to continuously evaluate the efficiency of security measures.
- To find weaknesses in the company's physical facilities that might lead to "substantial risk," conduct routine facility risk assessments. Are there faulty locks on access doors, dimly lit stairwells, or a door that is frequently propped open, for instance?
- Make sure every employee is aware that preventing workplace violence is everyone's concern and educate them on the crucial part they can play in minimizing violence.
- Create a committee to prevent workplace violence.
- Eliminate "At Risk" Behaviors with a focus.
- Create a policy to prevent workplace violence.
- The workplace has a no-weapons policy.
- Managers, supervisors, and employees all need training.
- Spread the word about your employee assistance program.
- To guarantee that your personnel, security, and safety rules form a cohesive effort to avoid workplace violence, coordinate them.
- Improve recruiting practices by adding employment screening measures that aim to weed out violently inclined candidates before they are employed.
- With the police, establish an emergency protocol.
- The insider threat mitigation program should be regularly used, its policies should be updated using both a conditions-based and a temporal-based approach, and the program should undergo frequent audits to assure supervision and compliance.
Every business domain has unique mission critical assets and different cybersecurity needs.
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