Getting Started: Insider Risk Management

Sometimes, the lack of knowledge can be the most serious security risk your organization faces. It is no longer a hidden fact, that insider misuse, either intentional of unintentional, constitutes grave consequence to organizations. Yet, insider threats are more difficult to identify and prevent than external attacks. They are often below the radar of conventional cybersecurity solutions such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems and anti-malware software. Because the insider already has valid authorization to data and systems, it’s difficult to distinguish between normal and harmful activity. For example, if an attacker logs in via an authorized user ID, password, IP address and device, they are unlikely to trigger any security alarms. 

No matter the intent, the end result is compromised confidentiality, availability, and/or integrity of enterprise systems and data; and the value of sensitive data and information to organizations is higher than ever. 

Insider threats can be managed by policies, procedures and technologies that help prevent misuse or reduce the damage it can cause. Following are a few best practices to mitigate insider threats and minimize the risk of your sensitive data being compromised.

Know Your Critical Assets

Identify your organization’s critical digital and physical assets. These include people, networks, systems, and confidential data including customer information, employee details, schematics, and detailed strategic plans.

Understand each critical asset, rank the assets in order of priority and determine the current state of protection for each asset. Naturally, highest priority assets should be given the highest level of protection from insider threats.

Baseline Normal Behavior

To detect and identify anomalous behavior, an organization should know what regular, benign activity looks like for its employees and networks.

Begin by monitoring user activity, access, authentication, account change, endpoint, and network logs.  Create a baseline of normal behavior for each individual user and device as well as for job function and job title.

Use this data to model and assign risk scores to user behavior tied to specific events such as downloading sensitive data to removable media or a user logging in from an unusual location.

With this baseline view, activity that does not fit the pattern – credential abuse, unusual access patterns, large data uploads – can be flagged for further investigation.

Watch Warning Signs

There are warning signs that could indicate the presence of an insider threat. They should be taken seriously and investigated further to ensure that the organization's data and resources are protected. Examples include:

High-risk access: Certain types of access, such as administrative access or access to critical infrastructure, can be high-risk and require closer monitoring. Employees who have such access should be closely monitored to ensure that they are not engaging in insider threat behavior.

Unauthorized access: Frequent and unauthorized attempts to access data, systems, or facilities outside of an employee's usual job responsibilities can also be a sign of an insider threat. This may include accessing files or systems that they have no legitimate reason to access or accessing them at unusual times.

Changes in behavior: An employee who suddenly becomes more secretive, paranoid, or hostile towards colleagues and management may be exhibiting warning signs of an insider threat. Such behavior changes could indicate that the individual is planning to misuse their access to sensitive data or resources.

Financial problems: Employees who are experiencing financial difficulties or who are in debt may be more susceptible to accepting bribes or engaging in fraudulent activities that put the organization at risk.

Disgruntled employees: Employees who are unhappy with their job, their pay, or their supervisor may be more likely to engage in insider threat behavior. Such employees may be more willing to harm the organization through theft or sabotage.

It's important to note, none of these signs necessarily mean that an employee is engaging in insider threat behavior.

Analyze Risk

Now it's time to move from what "could" happen to what has a chance of actually happening. Tracking risk trends helps you assess threats to your organization.

As you start observing activity in your organization, you’ll discover areas where current security measures are less than desirable. With risk scoring, you can better understand your user population based on defined risk factors and anticipate the future risk of the group.

By continuously monitoring user activity as well as aggregating and correlating information from multiple sources you can more easily spot unusual behaviors among compromised insiders, ideally long before criminals have gained access to critical systems.

Action remediation plan

Just like any other business initiative, you need a plan. Your remediation strategy should include the potential risks you’ve identified for your organization, how likely they are to occur and your response plan in the event of an active threat.

 Analyze the controls that are in place to minimize or eliminate the probability of a threat or vulnerability. Define clear policies and provide documentation to help ensure fewer gaps for attack, better understanding by employees, and fewer misconceptions that the organization is acting in a discriminatory manner.

It’s easy to get started with innerActiv Insider Risk Intelligence Platform. Protect your organization from an internal threat.