“Insider Threat” might sound like a spy movie title, but in cybersecurity, it represents a real and significant risk. While some threats come from malicious insiders, many arise from unintentional or negligent actions that inadvertently invite cybercriminals into your organization.
In this article we will define what an insider threat is and provide ways in which organizations can protect themselves.
Defining Insider Threats
An insider threat is a risk that comes from within the organization, involving the use of authorized (or compromised) access to harm the organization, either intentionally or unintentionally. Insiders can be current or past employees, third parties, such as part-time employees, contractors, suppliers, service providers and even customers that have access to your IT environment.
Internal Threat Classification
Insider threats can be classified into three main groups:
- Unintentional or compromised insider threats – someone who unintentionally clicked on a phishing email or a fraudulent link and who’s credentials are compromised providing “authorized” access to cybercriminals to commit fraud or steal data, amongst other things.
- Negligent or accidental insider threats – this refers to someone who loses a usb key or a notebook with confidential information or sends this type of information through email to the wrong recipient inadvertently making public the sensitive or confidential data.
- Malicious or intentional insider threats – this is someone who knowingly and intentionally uses authorized access to an organization’s information or infrastructure to cause harm. It could be current or past employees or third parties.
Impacts of Insider Threats
Similar to other cyber incidents, insider threats can lead to financial losses, data loss, reputational damage, operational disruptions, and regulatory or legal challenges.
Protecting Against Insider Threats
While insider threats can involve anyone with authorized access to an organization’s IT environment, there are effective strategies to mitigate these risks. Here are some key measures:
- Cybersecurity Awareness and Phishing Simulations – this will help all stakeholders in the organization to understand best cybersecurity practices, how to handle sensitive and confidential information, and recognize phishing attempts.
- Implementation of Identity and Access Management – ensure people, whether employees or third parties, and devices have access to the data only to the data they need, when they need it. This also includes limiting permissions for departing employees and ensuring credentials are revoked once they leave.
- Track and Monitor – all endpoints and mobile devices for unusual behaviour. This helps to identify possible incidents before they cause damage.
These are just a few basic steps organizations can take to mitigate risks however, each organization is unique and there may be other tools and practices that may apply to help manage the risks of insider threats.
Conclusion
Cybersecurity experts predict an increase in insider threats in 2025, driven by the rise of remote work, AI-powered social engineering, and data privacy concerns. The expanded attack surface of remote work provides more opportunities for cybercriminals.MicroAge can help you with mitigating insider threats. Contact us today for a conversation on how we can help.
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