Tackle Insider Threat by Creating a Culture of Security Awareness

How Would You Define Insider Threat?

Cullison: In our industry, insider threat is essentially any threat that relates to information on the network, and it could be either a malicious act or due to just plain negligence. Insider threat can follow three channels. The most common is the employee who has legitimate access to the system and data as part of their job. Then there is the outside worker who is temporarily contracted to do a job within the company. And finally, there is the 'outside insider' who has gained access to the network through the acquisition of passwords or a lost device such as a laptop or USB stick.

Amigorena: People frequently only consider the malicious element of insider threat – the employee who has an axe to grind and access to the organization's sensitive data. This is obviously a significant risk, but the more common occurrence comes from human error. Employees sharing passwords, following bad security practice. This leaves the organization wide open to social engineering tactics, whereby an outsider could gain access not with clever hacking techniques but by tricking a user into sharing access. Culture and training is obviously key to tackling this, as well as technology.