Top High Risk Behaviors to Watch
An insider threat is a category of risk posed by those who have access to an organization's physical or digital assets. These insiders can be current employees, former employees, contractors, vendors, or business partners who all have -- or had -- authorized access to an organization's network and computer systems. For secure cyber defense against an insider threat, you have to keep an eye on anomalous behavioral and digital activity. With a baseline of data, risk scores for user behavior tied to specific events can be assigned and in turn deviations can be flagged and investigated.
One seemingly harmless move by a negligent contractor or malicious theft by a disgruntled employee can jeopardize a company’s data and IP. These situations can lead to financial or reputational damage as well as a loss of competitive edge.
Security leaders can start detecting insider threat indicators before damage occurs by implementing technology that analyzes employee, endpoint and data activity to proactively mitigate critical risk.
Pentagon Leak Shines a Spotlight on Insider Threat
The recent headline featuring the leak of classified pentagon documents is this month’s high-profile example of the growing insider threat phenomenon that is occurring more regularly than most people realize both in the public domain as well as the private sector. With an arrest and investigations underway to determine the full scope and implications of the leak, it is shaping up to be one of the most damaging breaches in years.
In the aftermath, the situation also raises questions about the procedures the U.S. government has in place or is taking to protect sensitive information and ultimately safeguard national security. While many US agencies have improved their capabilities to detect anomalies in the movement of data, an insider risk management solution is the only way to truly analyze and predict evolving risk originating from inside actors – employees, partners, vendors with legitimate access to systems and sensitive data.
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.
ChatGPT: A new insider threat use case
Since ChatGPT became available for public use last November, it’s presented questions for employers about use cases and how best to incorporate the tool into the workplace and maintain compliance. Confidentiality and data privacy are the primary concerns for employers because there is the possibility that employees will share proprietary, confidential, or trade secret information when having conversations with ChatGPT. Internal threats, whether on purpose or by accident, will also arise as a result.
The Danger of Privileged Access and Users
Privileged accounts and privileged access are necessary to every business today. This role-based security model provides users with different levels of access that ensure an IT team can administer and manage the organization’s systems, infrastructure, and software, while also enabling employees to access the applications and data that allows them to perform business tasks.
While important to every organization, privileged accounts are also the most likely to be a threat and targeted by cyber criminals. This is because they allow the attackers to easily move around the network, accessing critical systems and sensitive data while remaining undetected and cleverly hiding their tracks.
Three Reasons Your DLP Strategy Needs to Evolve
For anyone who has worked in cybersecurity, the term “DLP” is a very familiar one. DLP, data loss prevention (or protection), became a must-have security tool decades ago and, since that time, has evolved into a blanket term covering all types of software. Everything from Identity Access Management (IAM) to time-tracking, EDR to CRM adds DLP to their list of features and benefits. It’s no surprise that many may also assume that the all-purpose “DLP software” can address their insider risk concerns. However, there are a number of weaknesses to bear in mind when considering DLP as a possible solution for insider risk and improving your overall security stance.