Insider threats pose a significant and ever-evolving cybersecurity risk for organizations today.
According to the Ponemon 2022 Cost of Insider Threats Global Report, insider threat incidents have surged by 44% over the past two years, with the cost per incident escalating by more than a third to $15.38 million.
Key findings include:
- The cost of credential theft for organizations has experienced a 65% increase, from $2.79 million in 2020 to $4.6 million currently.
- The time required to contain an insider threat incident has expanded from 77 days to 85 days, leading to organizations allocating the most resources toward containment.
- Incidents that took over 90 days to contain resulted in an average annualized cost of $17.19 million for organizations.
Given these findings, it is crucial for organizations to develop comprehensive and adaptive strategies to identify, prevent, and mitigate insider threats effectively. And organizations should be aware of the various forms of insider threats including:
- Disaffected employees who misappropriate data or execute retaliatory attacks against their previous employers. These employees may have extensive knowledge of the organization’s infrastructure and data, making them particularly dangerous adversaries.
- Employees exhibiting negligence in handling sensitive data, resulting in security lapses such as unsecured devices, sharing login credentials, or inadvertently disseminating confidential information. Such carelessness may lead to unauthorized access and significant damage to the organization’s reputation or financial standing.
- Employees exploited by external threat actors through methods such as phishing, social engineering, or malicious attachments. These individuals may unwittingly provide access to sensitive systems or data, allowing adversaries to compromise the organization from within.
To address these challenges, organizations must incorporate several key elements into their overarching cybersecurity plan:
User Behavior Analytics (UBA) tools facilitate the monitoring of user activities for irregular patterns, which may signify unauthorized data access, excessive data duplication, or attempts to bypass security measures. By leveraging UBA tools, organizations can detect and thwart potential insider threats in a timely manner, preventing extensive damage to their infrastructure or reputation.
Data Loss Prevention (DLP) tools assist in averting accidental or deliberate leakage of sensitive information beyond organizational boundaries. By scanning all outgoing data, including emails, file transfers, and cloud storage, DLP tools identify and intercept transmissions containing confidential data, thereby safeguarding the organization’s security and ensuring compliance with data protection regulations.
Identity and Access Management (IAM) tools enable the regulation of user access to sensitive data and systems, ensuring only authorized users can access them. These tools manage user identities, permissions, and roles, as well as revoking access when no longer required. IAM tools also enable the implementation of multi-factor authentication (MFA) and single sign-on (SSO) to strengthen overall security.
Incident response plans must be established to facilitate prompt identification and response to insider threats. These plans should delineate the organization’s approach to incident investigation, damage containment, impact mitigation, and post-incident analysis. Establishing clear communication channels and a well-defined chain of command is crucial for effective incident management.
Employee training must emphasize security awareness and best practices to prevent insider threats. Training should encompass topics such as recognizing and reporting suspicious activities, safeguarding sensitive data, evading phishing attacks, and maintaining password hygiene. Regularly updating and reinforcing training content also ensures that employees remain vigilant and informed about the latest threats and security measures.
In conjunction with these security measures, it is crucial to foster a robust security culture and mindset within the organization. This entails cultivating an atmosphere where employees feel confident in reporting suspicious activities and are held responsible for their conduct. Encouraging open communication, transparency, and collaboration between departments can contribute to an environment where security is a shared responsibility.
Additional recommendations for mitigating insider threats include:
- Enforcing stringent access controls and periodically reviewing user access privileges to prevent unauthorized access or privilege escalation.
- Supervising user activities for unusual behavior, utilizing advanced analytics, machine learning, or artificial intelligence to detect anomalies in real-time.
- Providing employee education on security risks and best practices, including tailored training for specific roles or departments.
- Establishing a security-centric culture that encourages employee vigilance, reporting, and collaboration, creating a sense of collective ownership and responsibility for organizational security.
- Developing and implementing a robust plan for responding to insider threats, regularly updating and testing the plan to ensure its effectiveness in the face of evolving threats.