The world is still working hard to keep itself safe from all ends. Yet there always has been a problem of an internal loophole, a mole, a leak or a bad cookie on the inside that causes such information to leak out at the worst of moments. A lot of companies and businesses have thus faced a lot of online attacks.
In the real sense, insider threats are worse and they originate from an organization’s depths. Each company always has either a disgruntled or a greedy employee, either current or former, or a business associate getting disaffected due to multiple reasons; which are the weak links and often are enticed to conduct cyber attacks.
Typical security measures are not adequate enough. They usually keep a check on external threats and hardly ever look inside. Now we will examine how bad insider threats are and how they can be overcome.
Insider threats – which ones are the most plaguing ones?
Insider threats can be caused due to disgruntled employees looking for revenge, clueless employees falling for honey traps and greedy employees looking to extort their bosses. Here are some common kinds of insider threats that have put companies in precarious positions:
A Clueless/careless Insider
A clueless insider is not to be blamed. They are innocent pawns who accidentally expose the system either due to curiosity or by accident. They are quite common and their actions are usually due to errors, like leaving devices or portals open, falling for honey traps or scams.
They are basically rule-abiding employees who mean no harm. However, the leaks caused by them are mostly accidental and often accidentally click on clickbait links infecting their systems.
A Greedy/malicious Insider
Malicious insiders have often been referred to as turncoats and turn cloaks, who have malicious intentions and often deliberately take wrong advantage of legitimate credentials, typically for stealing information for either personal gains or for financial gains.
They have an advantage over most attackers due to their familiarity with organizational systems and security policies plus the procedures their companies use. Moreover, they also know the kind of vulnerabilities the organization is susceptible to.
They mostly consist of individuals holding a grudge against their old employers due to various reasons. They also can be an employee looking for an opportunity to exact revenge against a company to leverage something, gain a monetary advantage or give rivals or competitors a serious advantage.
These kinds of insiders are also known to be working as insiders for bad entities as corporate espionage agents.
Corporate Moles
Like it or not, they are actually worse. They are impostors pretending to work for a company but are outsiders who have obtained insider access to privileged drives or networks. They also pose as organizational partners and cause a lot of damage.
What are the indicators of really bad insider threats?
Here are some indicators of insider threats that are dangerous in nature:
• Unusual activity at unusual times: A good example would be someone logging into the company networks or company portal and displaying unusual activity at the wrong time.
• An unusually high level of traffic or transferring data on the network without any legitimate cause.
• The kind of activity taking place.
What are the Best ways and practices for companies to protect themselves against protection against Insider Threats?
Keeping key assets under lock and key
Such assets can be physical, logical, or digital. Technology facilities, software and computer systems plus employees, and intellectual patents come under this category. Intellectual property is also considered a key asset worth protecting.
Properly enforcing cyber security policies and policies for the protection of organizational assets
Such policies should always be documented clearly. Enforcing them is compulsory to prevent all kinds of misunderstandings from metastasizing. Each employee in the company needs to be familiar with all security procedures and protocols.
Employees should also understand their rights in terms of protecting intellectual property. They should not share or divulge information or content regarding sensitive issues and topics. They also must advise other employees from doing so.
Raising the viability of security protection
DNS DDoS protection comes as part of full-fledged cyber security software. This very software is instrumental in protecting against unwanted intrusions, providing robust security, and adding more protection measures to organizational cybersecurity systems.