Insider Threat Management: Keep Up With Growing Threats

Brought to you by Renelis Mulyandari

According to research, 60% of data breaches are the result of insider threats. What might come first to mind is the employee misusing their access to harm the company or a hacker getting in using the password obtained via a phishing scheme or the dark web.

However, the cause of insider threats can be difficult to weed out, because it goes deeper than a lack of security solutions that prevent external hacking.

Many companies have security gaps that could lead the threat actor right into their premises, and some risk a data breach with poor leadership.

Organizations can apply insider threat management to their infrastructures to reduce the chance of such attacks. This includes introducing zero trust, reducing human errors, automating insider threat discovery, and making changes in leadership.

Introducing Zero Trust

In this context, the zero trust principle is defined as “trust but verify”. Instead of assuming that everyone who has the credentials is the proper user, zero trust makes an educated guess that the person with the password and a username could be a malicious intruder.

Zero trust can be achieved and paired with:

• Multi-factor authentication

• Role-based access

True, even multi-factor authentication can be bypassed by a more sophisticated hacker. However, having more layers that the hacker has to go through strengthens the cyber protection and buys the security teams some time to react.

Limiting access to parts of the system based on the role that an employee has in the company allows a better overview of who has the access to which data at all times.

Role-based access prevents the hacks that already managed to get into the system from making even deeper lateral movements that lead the intruder to sensitive data. 

Reducing Human Errors

Any human working in the company can cause or be an insider threat – intentional or not. In fact, the majority of data breaches are the result of human error.

IT teams can make mistakes during the configuration of the cloud component, not apply the latest patches provided by the vendors, or fail to update the system. This can leave the infrastructure riddled with flaws waiting to be exploited by cybercriminals.

Employees could click on a phishing link, have weak passwords used for multiple accounts, or give away their credentials to a malicious hacker. Company leaders are not immune to causing internal threats either.

Introducing additional training for any team member that needs it is a start. That could mean basic cybersecurity awareness training for a general workforce or investing in courses that improve the skills of the more tech-savvy teams.

Although not all employees are responsible for the security of the company, there is no one cybersecurity solution that is foolproof when it comes to scams and attacks that exploit human biases and trust.

Automating Insider Threat Discovery

To find suspicious activity on time, it’s necessary to track it 24/7. Security teams should have visibility into any user activity that is out of the ordinary as well as vulnerabilities that could endanger the architecture.

The attack surface is continually growing. This means it’s getting more challenging than ever to track all of the changes that occur. As companies have more employees (many of them remote), it’s not possible to detect all anomalies in security manually. Therefore, many have invested in tools that can do so automatically.

Automated insider threat management should:

• Keep track of the regular activity within the network.

• Know who has the access to which data at all times.

• Track vulnerabilities such as cloud misconfiguration.

• Put the data in the context of the company.

• Alert the security analysts of any high-risk users

Information about the high-risk user activity point to illicit access and critical flaws that could enable the hacker into the systems is presented in a single dashboard.

The process of discovery and analysis of the threats in the specific context of the company is repeated at all times, allowing the security to detect and mitigate the threats early.
Making Changes in Leadership

Finally, the solution to reducing the number of insider threats could be in changing the leadership style. Toxic or unethical leadership as well as higher-ups feared by employees could cause the team members to retaliate and misuse their user privileges.

For example, shifting toward “people leader” qualities (e.g. putting teams first, communicating transparently, and giving them the tools for improvement) can have a positive influence on your workforce.

Trusting employees more seems counterintuitive with the previously proposed zero-trust infrastructure. But the leadership affects the company culture. 

A people-oriented leader can form a more favorable work environment – in which teams feel free to report if they believe that they unintentionally caused a security issue. Even more, a healthy company culture can aid in retaining talent.

In the midst of a shortage of security professionals, research cited by Statista shows that 30% of surveyed cybersecurity experts said that poor work culture is what causes them to leave the company.

The solution to the security issues such as insider threats is not necessarily adding even more tools that are designed for cybersecurity purposes. 

Having a reliable tool for insider threat detection and then focusing more energy on improving the treatment of the people within the corporation can make a major difference.

Key Takeaways

Insider threats are still a persistent issue - especially with remote work and the growth of companies that are adding new members to their teams at a rapid pace. To solve this issue that is deeply rooted in most companies, it’s necessary to examine the role of every employee that contributes to the company and connects to the system.

Anyone – from a manager and security analyst all the way to a personal assistant can create a weakness that is waiting to be exploited by the hacker.

Insider threat management aids security professionals to track high-risk vulnerabilities and illicit user activity in real time. Re-examining the company culture is just as significant.

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