Whether businesses are grappling with rapidly changing market conditions, continued pandemic disruptions, geopolitical conflicts, or shifting workplace arrangements, threat actors are looking to take advantage of the moment to undermine network integrity or compromise data privacy. In many ways, their efforts are bearing fruit. According to a recent industry survey, 66 percent of respondents indicated they experienced a ransomware attack in 2021, a 29 percent year-over-year increase.

The uptick in recent years in cyber attacks by rival state actors, primarily Russia and China but not only, as well as criminal groups, have pushed the US government to step up its effort to defend against these malicious actors. While much of the focus has been on external actors, there has also been an ongoing effort to secure government organizations from internal threat actors. Insiders present a serious risk because they have authorized access to be inside the organization.