What is an Insider Threat?
What is an Insider Threat?
An insider threat can happen when someone close to an organization with authorized access misuses that access to negatively impact the organization’s critical information or systems. This person does not necessarily need to be an employee – third party vendors, contractors, and partners could pose a threat as well.
US-CERT: Insider Threat
69% say their organizations have experienced an attempted or successful threat or corruption of data in the last 12 months.
Source: Accenture
Definition of an Insider
A current or former employee, contractor, or business partner who has or had authorized access to the organization’s network, systems, or data.
Definition of an Insider Threat
When an insider intentionally or unintentionally misuses access to negatively affect the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of the organization’s critical information or systems.
Your biggest asset is also your biggest risk.
The root cause of insider threats? People.
Yet most security tools only analyze computer, network, or system data.
To stop insider threats–both malicious and inadvertent–you must continuously monitor all user activity and take action when incidents arise.
Threats can come from any level and from anyone with access to proprietary data
25% of all security incidents involve insiders.
Source: Verizon DBIR 2017
Know what your users are doing today!
Test Drive ObserveIT FreeWho Are Your Insiders?
Employees
- Privileged users, such as IT team members and superusers
- Knowledge workers, such as analysts or developers
- Resigned or terminated employees
- Employees involved in a merger or acquisition
Third Parties
- Vendors
- Contractors
- Partners
There are two major types of insider threats: malicious and inadvertent. Source: IBM
Malicious
Common Goals:
- Sabotage
- Intellectual property (IP) theft
- Espionage
- Fraud (financial gain)
Inadvertent
Common Situations:
- Human error
- Bad judgment
- Phishing
- Malware
- Unintentional aiding and abetting
- Stolen credentials
- Convenience
One-third of all organizations have faced an insider threat incident.* *Source: SANS
The rest probably just don’t know it yet.
50% of incidents where Private or sensitive information was unintentionally exposed
40% of incidents where Employee records were compromised or stolen
33% of incidents where Customer records were compromised or stolen
32% of incidents where Confidential records (trade secrets or intellectual property) were compromised or stolen
Decrease your risk immediately with advanced insider threat detection and prevention.
How to Stop Insider Threats
The potential risks of insider threats are numerous, including installing malware, financial fraud, data corruption, or theft of valuable information. To counteract all these possible scenarios, organizations should implement an insider threat solution with 6 key capabilities:
Detect Insider Threats
Uncover risky user activity by identifying anomalous behavior.
Investigate Incidents
Investigate suspicious user activity in minutes—not days.
Prevent Incidents
Reduce risk with real-time user notifications and blocking.
Protect User Privacy
Anonymize user data to protect employee and contractor privacy and meet regulations.
Satisfy Compliance
Meet key compliance requirements regarding insider threats in a streamlined manner.
Integrate Tools
Integrate insider threat detection with SIEMs and other security tools for greater insight.