Table of Contents
Introduction
The majority of people assume that all cyberattacks only occur from the outside of the business network. They fail to see that an insider can cause equal, if not more, damage to the company! 33% of organizations have faced an insider threat incident!
For a small business, insider threats are among the three major cyber threats to their business continuity. While it is difficult to catch an insider threat in an organization, this article will help you understand, identify, and remediate such threats in your business.
What is an insider threat?
An Insider threat is any person within your organization or in your supply chain that knowingly or unknowingly makes your business vulnerable to cyber-attacks and data theft. These people usually have inside information on the organization’s security practices, data, and computer systems.
Insider threat is proof that cybersecurity is not limited to technical people and that people are the most significant cybersecurity risk for any organization. There are various types of Insider threats:
Negligent Employee:
This is the most common type of insider threat and accounts for more than 60% of insider threat incidents. An employee that is not aware of cybersecurity or does not take it seriously is a high-security risk! An organization must ensure that effective cybersecurity awareness training is being provided to their employees to protect against the most common cyber attack – Phishing. A negligent employee can quickly introduce ransomware by clicking on a malicious link and put the entire company in jeopardy!
Disgruntled Employee:
Any employee who is unhappy with you or your business might harm the business by misusing their privileges. Such threats steal sensitive information such as customer data, Intellectual Property, financial information, and others to either sell the data to the highest bidder or leak the information to the public. Identifying such threats can be challenging, but a good framework is closely monitoring employees showing disgruntled behavior.
Malicious Insider:
This kind of insider threat mostly wants to make a quick profit. They understand that the business has sensitive information that is valuable in the market. They will misuse their access privileges to share sensitive and classified information with the competitors for appropriate compensation. Identifying this type of insider threat can be relatively easy – they will suddenly change their lifestyle, like purchasing a new car or a house.
Former Employees:
As most business activities are taking place online, especially after the pandemic, an organization must immediately revoke an employee’s access privileges as soon as they have left the organization.
Failure to do may lead to a major cyber threat where the former employee accesses the organization’s data and uses it at his new position. This could be detrimental to an organization if the employee has joined a competing business.
How to detect an insider threat?
Detecting an insider threat can be a difficult job, especially for a small business that doesn’t have the required security tools. Whenever possible, a small business needs to invest in an affordable Identity and Access Management tool, which will allow them to set employee permissions and access to the various business resources. It further allows them to instantly revoke all employee permissions after they have left the organization, leaving no room for errors. An IAM solution improves the security posture of a small business and makes it more efficient.
Small businesses must be proactive in their cybersecurity to combat this threat. Therefore, all the principal heads of the business – IT, HR, Accounts, and others must be trained to spot disgruntled behavior and limit their privileges immediately. In these cases, it is best to be vigilant.
How to remediate this threat?
The best solution is by far a rigorous and effective security awareness training program. Consistent training will provide the employees with updated information on the latest cyber threats and how they can play a role in safeguarding the organization and their families at home by adopting a more responsible cyber behavior.
Remember, positive reinforcement works much better in motivating people than criticizing. Therefore, reward good behavior and encourage employees to improve whenever they falter.
Furthermore, creating a positive culture in your organization will go a long way in reducing the chances of a disgruntled employee turning into an insider threat. Employees that are well compensated and fairly treated rarely ever take this negative approach.
Lastly, the principle of least privilege is another excellent solution to limit the impact of an insider threat. The majority of the small businesses have multiple admin accounts and allow each employee access to almost the entire business network. This can prove to be a folly as one compromised account can lead to a network-wide attack! Further, a disgruntled employee can create havoc across the network and gain sensitive information from other departments as well!
According to the principle of least privilege, allow an employee to access only those company resources required for his work, and nothing more. This will limit the information an employee can exfiltrate and also limit the impact of an eventual breach. With remote working, many companies are adopting this practice to maintain their security posture.
Conclusion
Insider threats are one of the biggest challenges in small business cybersecurity today. Not only are they hard to detect, but they have access to your network and data like no other. Therefore, businesses must implement safety measures against this threat!
An effective security awareness training program and a positive company culture are the most effective and affordable solutions against insider threats. Implementing them will improve your security posture and help make your business a place worth working.
Businesses must implement the principle of least privilege to ensure their company stays secure while its employees are working remotely!