What is an insider threat?

Today, we’re taking an in-depth look at insider threats, offering you an overview of identifying and preventing these risks to keep your organization secure.

What’s defined as an insider threat?

The concept is fairly simple—an insider threat is a risk posed by someone within the company, like an employee, contractor, or partner, who has access to the company’s sensitive data, networks, and systems. This risk arises when that person, whether on purpose or by accident, misuses their access, putting the company’s digital resources at risk.

So, why do insider threats happen? There are a lot of reasons, and it really depends on whether the person meant to cause harm. Some insiders might act maliciously, wanting to hurt the company for personal gain or out of resentment. On the other hand, some are just negligent, causing harm unintentionally, simply because they’re careless or don’t fully understand cybersecurity. Whatever the reason, intentional or not, insider threats can cause significant damage to a company, both financially and to its reputation.

For many, this idea can be hard to accept because we naturally want to trust our team members and find it difficult to believe they’d harm the company. As a result, many organizations focus on external threats, overlooking the fact that insiders—armed with a deep understanding of systems, processes, and policies—can exploit vulnerabilities from within. What makes this even trickier is that sometimes, the actions of insiders are so subtle it’s tough to tell what’s normal and what’s actually harmful. That’s why cyber insider threats are often more difficult to detect than external ones.

Types of Insider Threats

It's important to understand that insider threats are not monolithic—as briefly stated above, they fall into two main categories: malicious and negligent. This distinction is crucial for developing targeted strategies to effectively mitigate each type of risk.

Let’s first talk about malicious insider attacks—these are caused by individuals within the organization who intentionally seek to cause harm. Their motives could be personal gain, revenge, or even espionage. Malicious insider threats might involve stealing sensitive data to sell to competitors, sabotaging systems, or committing fraud. In short, these actions are deliberate and meant to hurt the organization, whether through financial loss or reputational damage.

On the other hand, negligent insider threats are caused by individuals who don’t intend to cause harm but still put the organization at risk due to carelessness or lack of awareness. Negligence often stems from failing to follow security protocols or making poor decisions, like using weak passwords to protect business accounts or falling for phishing scams and creating openings in the company’s protective layer. While these individuals aren’t trying to harm the organization, their lack of attention or poor judgment creates vulnerabilities.

There are also a couple subtypes of insider threats worth mentioning. One is the accidental threat, which is caused by human error. These are typically rare but can still cause significant damage, such as when an employee forgets to log out of a system or uses unauthorized software by mistake (also known as shadow IT).

And then we have the so-called third-party internal threats, the name of which sounds a bit contradictory. But that’s because it describes threats caused by external entities, like contractors, partners, or service providers, who aren’t full-time employees but still have access to the organization’s resources. Therefore, their actions—whether malicious or accidental—can also pose significant risks to the company.

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Insights from the frontlines: Insider threat examples

Moving from the theoretical to the tangible, let's anchor our understanding of insider threats in the reality of actual incidents. These examples serve as critical lessons in the multifaceted nature of insider threats. Each incident sheds light on different aspects of insider actions, whether driven by malicious intent or accidental negligence, which can lead to significant security breaches.

The Morrisons data leak

Back in 2014, in an alarming display of malicious intent, a disgruntled employee at Morrisons supermarket exploited his access to confidential employee data. He leaked personal information, including bank details and salaries, of nearly 100,000 employees to the internet and newspapers. This breach not only exposed employees to potential financial fraud but also proved the critical need for stringent internal access controls and the ability to quickly respond to insider threats.

Anthem data breach

Anthem's data breach is a stark reminder of the consequences of negligent insider actions. Attackers used a clever phishing scheme to get hold of the credentials of several key employees, which eventually led to unauthorized access to the personal information of 78.8 million individuals. This incident highlights how important is employee training on cybersecurity best practices and the implementation of robust security tools.

Edward Snowden NSA leak

Edward Snowden's disclosure of classified NSA documents to the public is perhaps the most infamous and controversial example of an insider threat. The incident highlighted the profound implications that insider threats can have on national security. Snowden's actions, driven by a belief in the public's right to know about government surveillance programs, illustrated the potential for significant ideological motivations behind insider threats and the necessity for comprehensive vetting within organizations that have implications nationally and even globally.

These real-world examples emphasize that insider threats are not a monolithic problem but rather a spectrum of risks that require a nuanced approach to mitigation. They illustrate the necessity for organizations to develop insider threat programs that address both intentional and unintentional risks.

Insider Threat Prevention and Detection: Fortifying Against the Invisible Enemy

As organizations increasingly recognize insider threats as potentially organization-ending incidents, the imperative shifts to understanding these risks and actively implementing strategies to prevent and detect them.

Insider threats, by their very nature, require a nuanced approach. Here, we look at the cornerstone practices for bolstering your defenses.

Insider Threat Prevention

Prevention is the cornerstone of a robust security posture. Effective prevention combines early intervention with a comprehensive strategy, focusing on:

Access control and management: Employing strict access controls and regular reviews to make sure that employees only have the necessary privileges to perform their duties, thus minimizing potential abuse.

Security awareness and training: Developing an ongoing education and awareness program that highlights the importance of following the organization’s security policies, helping to prevent negligent behavior by making employees aware of the risks and how they should act in the face of those risks.

Regular audits and compliance checks: Conduct periodic audits of systems and practices to ensure compliance with security policies and identify potential vulnerabilities.

Reporting mechanisms: Creating reporting systems and fostering an environment where employees feel safe to report suspicious activity without fear of reprisal is critical for the early detection of potential threats.

Insider Threat Detection

Detection strategies are critical for identifying threats that prevention measures may not have fully mitigated. Effective detection is predicated on the ability to identify anomalies and act swiftly, involving:

Behavioral analytics: Implementing user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA) to monitor for unusual activity patterns that may indicate malicious or negligent insider actions.

Incident response and management: Developing a clear, efficient incident response plan that enables quick action to mitigate the impact of detected threats.

Technology and system monitoring: Utilizing advanced monitoring tools to continuously observe system and user activities for signs of insider threat, including unauthorized data access.

Feedback loops for continuous improvement: Creating mechanisms for feedback on the effectiveness of detection strategies, allowing for continuous refinement and improvement of security measures.

Harnessing password managers to combat insider threats

Among the tools available to protect organizations against insider threats, password managers emerge as a utility for convenience as well as a critical line of defense. Let’s explore how enterprise-grade password managers, such as NordPass Enterprise, can bolster an organization's security posture against insider threats.

Centralized control over access

Password managers offer centralized control mechanisms that significantly streamline the management of user access to sensitive systems and information. By centralizing password storage, organizations can enforce company-wide password policies, ensure the use of strong, unique passwords across all accounts, and rapidly revoke access when a user's relationship with the company changes or suspicious activity is detected.

Enhanced security features

Enterprise password managers come equipped with advanced security features such as multi-factor authentication (MFA), biometric access controls, and secure password and item sharing. These features add layers of security that make it significantly more challenging for malicious insiders to gain unauthorized access to critical systems. MFA, in particular, is a powerful deterrent against unauthorized access attempts, ensuring that even if a password is compromised, the additional authentication layer provides a formidable barrier.

Audit trails and monitoring

One of the key advantages of using an enterprise password manager is the ability to generate comprehensive audit trails and engage in proactive monitoring. Enterprise-grade password managers, such as NordPass, log user interactions with the stored credentials, providing security teams with valuable insights into access patterns and behaviors that may indicate a potential insider threat.

Educating and Empowering Employees

Beyond the technical benefits, password managers play a crucial role in fostering a culture of security awareness within an organization. They relieve employees of the burden of remembering complex passwords for every account and reduce the temptation to reuse passwords or resort to easily guessable ones. This, in turn, empowers employees to embrace security best practices without compromising productivity or ease of use.

A foundation for secure collaboration

In today's collaborative work environments, such as IT security departments, the secure sharing of access credentials is critical but poses significant security challenges. Fortunately, tools like NordPass, a password manager for IT teams, address this challenge by enabling the secure, controlled sharing of credentials and access rights. This ensures that sensitive information remains protected, even when access is extended across teams or departments, mitigating the risk of insider threats related to shared credentials.

By integrating a robust password management solution into their cybersecurity strategy, organizations can significantly enhance their defenses against insider threats. Password managers provide a comprehensive suite of tools designed not only to secure passwords but also to enforce access policies, monitor user behavior, and promote a culture of security awareness.