Image Source: FreeImages
When you think of insider threat, you probably picture a spy or double agent who is focused on stealing data from large, wealthy organizations. However, insider threats are much more common and widespread than many people realize. In fact, insider threats pose a serious risk in any business environment, including Small-Medium Enterprises (SME).
In the digital age, it’s easier than ever for employees to share sensitive information with external parties without alerting management or other appropriate teams. In addition to intentional malicious insiders, accidental insiders can also pose a significant risk by leaving confidential data unsecured on personal devices or sending it to the wrong recipient via email. Insider threats occur when an individual with access to confidential information about your organization leaves that information unsecured or accessible to unauthorized third parties—intentionally or by accident.
Even smaller organizations need at least a basic insider threat program in place; if yours doesn’t, you are at risk of operational and financial losses from insider threats. Read on to learn more about what insider threat programs are and how they can help protect your Small-Medium Enterprise..
What is an Insider Threat Program?
An insider threat program is a coordinated set of policies and procedures to identify, track, and mitigate risk posed by internal employees who could cause harm to a business. An insider threat program can also be referred to as an insider threat management (ITM) program. Regardless of the terminology, it is essentially the same thing: a coordinated set of policies and procedures to identify, track, and mitigate risk posed by internal employees who could cause harm to a business. An insider threat program is a process that includes employee training and monitoring, as well as reaction protocols. It helps organizations prevent and detect malicious or negligent acts that could cause damage to your business’s reputation and/or financial viability. An effective insider threat program is designed to protect against malicious insiders and accidental misuses of confidential data.
Why You Need an Insider Threat Program
There are many reasons why you need an insider threat program. For one, an ITM program is a proactive approach to security that involves monitoring your employees for signs of risk. With an insider threat program in place, you will be able to identify problematic behaviors and intervene before they become severe. Additionally, an ITM program is a reactive approach to security that allows you to detect suspicious activities if and when they occur. In other words, an IT program can help you minimize the damage after an insider event has already occurred. An insider threat program is also a useful tool in recruiting new employees. By having a robust IT program in place, you will be able to demonstrate your commitment to security and risk mitigation. This will help you attract top talent who are serious about protecting sensitive information. An IT program will also help you comply with industry regulations like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires publicly traded companies to implement security programs to prevent and detect fraud.
3 Ways to Build Your SME Insider Threat Program
There are lots of resources to help any size organization get started. The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has published one of the most definitive guides to building an Insider Threat Mitigation Program. It’s well thought out and effective, but can be a heavy lift.
While many SMEs would find it difficult to implement everything defined in the CISA guide, any organization should be able to implement some of the more impactful elements of an Insider Threat Program. These elements include:
- Employee training: Employees are often the first line of defense against insider threats. An effective insider threat program involves training all employees on how to recognize and report suspicious activities. Employee training should also be used to help educate your team about your organization’s value proposition, as well as their role in supporting that proposition. This will help them understand the value they provide to the organization, and it will help them understand the importance of protecting sensitive data. SMEs in particular can benefit greatly from this approach. Employees at smaller organizations often know each other so well that they can help identify behavioral issues before they progress to an insider threat. The CISA advises that "An individual’s transformation from a trusted insider to a malicious actor is a process, not an event." Learn how to stop that process early.
- Incident response planning: An IT program should be designed to prevent and detect insider threats, but it should also include incident response plans for when an insider threat occurs. Many regulatory agencies consider incident response plans to be an essential component of security programs designed to detect and prevent fraud. This is because an incident response plan allows you to respond appropriately when an insider threat event occurs. It is also becoming a mandatory compliance requirement that large businesses are requiring of their B2B partners.
An Incident Response Plan doesn't need to be complex. SMEs can benefit from a simple plan with a few key components. An IRP should include contact information for your team, a chain of command, and a process for escalating incidents as they happen. You should also include contact information for outside vendors like your cyber insurance provider. Finally, you should include a process for testing your IRP to make sure that everything works as expected.
- Monitoring activities: The next step in building a robust insider threat program is monitoring employee activities. You should have tools in place that enable you to track who accesses sensitive data and when they access it. This will enable you to identify abnormal behavior, and it will help you react appropriately if an insider threat event occurs. It will also help you manage your data access more effectively, as it will be easier to tell who needs access to what information.
Monitoring can be one of the more difficult elements for smaller organizations, especially those that have not migrated to the cloud. Fortunately for many companies that are either cloud-native, or have made the migration to the cloud, there is a wealth of free tools included with their cloud environments that offer the kind of visibility that smaller organizations may not have had in the past. The consoles for Google Cloud Identity, Microsoft Defender 365, Okta and others can provide the data organizations need to monitor for Insider Threats. However, their consoles weren’t designed for monitoring or investigations. To help organizations quickly investigate and monitor the output of these suites, Fletch's People Risk & Investigation is an app that allows organizations to quickly search and analyze data from all these environments, and more, without the need for specialized expertise in information security or these tools.
2 Steps to Creating an Effective Insider Threat Program
- Define your risk: You should begin your insider threat program by conducting an audit of your existing risks. This will help you understand the level of risk you face from insider threats. Smaller organizations can conduct a simplified audit by identifying your sensitive information, listing the people who have access to that information, and determining the potential impact of an insider threat event. You should also consider factors that increase your risk, such as the type of business you run and the types of data you store. For example, a business that deals in healthcare data or finances is more likely to be targeted by malicious insiders.
- Identify controls: Next, you should identify controls that will mitigate the risk of insider threats. You can do this by assessing the risk of each potential threat, determining the likelihood of each threat occurring, and determining how much the threat would impact your business if it were to occur. You should also consider how much each potential control would cost to implement. Smaller organizations should look to The 18 CIS Critical Security Controls for one of the most pragmatic control frameworks to start with. Remember that they don’t have to be addressed in order; anywhere you can get quick wins will be a great place to start.
An insider threat program will help you protect your confidential data and operational security, as well as comply with industry regulations. It will allow you to identify and mitigate risk posed by internal employees who could cause harm to a business. An effective insider threat program will include employee training, monitoring activities, and incident response planning. To build an effective insider threat program, you should begin by defining your risk and identifying controls that will mitigate that risk.
Check out Fletch's People Risk app to help simplify your investigations.
