Spotting insider threats isn’t easy. There are a number of behavioral indicators that can help you see where a potential threat is coming from, but this is only half the battle. Efficient insider threat detection also requires comprehensive tools that allow you to monitor suspicious users’ sessions and track their activities. In this article, we describe what insider threat indicators are to help you spot potential malicious actors.

As cyberattacks become more sophisticated, strong cybersecurity measures might not be enough to protect your organization. It’s not a matter of “if” cybersecurity incidents will occur but rather “when”. That’s why many organizations turn to cyber insurance for financial protection against cyber threats.

Your employees, business partners, and third-party contractors with legitimate access to your corporate infrastructure may pose significant risks to your cybersecurity. Intentionally or unintentionally, they can destroy or expose your valuable data, thus, putting your organization at risk for non-compliance, financial losses, reputation damage, etc. It’s important to understand what insider threats are and what dangers they may pose to your organization.

An Insider Threat is a risk that can cause individuals with access to an organization’s systems, networks, or data to exploit that access for a malicious purpose. This threat can be caused by employees, contractors, business associates, or anyone with authorized access to assets of the organization.

Organizations must always be aware of the constantly changing compliance landscape to protect their sensitive assets and avoid paying millions in fines. The rapid development of cyber threats fueled by the global pandemic and cyberwarfare have forced the European Union (EU) to update its NIS Directive. We understand the pain of having to read hundreds of requirements and legislation documents, so we’ve done it for you.

Insider threats are expensive. The total average annual cost of an insider threat rose to $15.4 million according to the 2022 Cost Of Insider Threats Global Report by the Ponemon Institute . Companies spend a fortune on lawsuits, fines for non-compliance with security requirements, and mitigating the consequences of cybersecurity incidents — not to mention the negative impact of such incidents on an organization’s reputation.

Is Santa an insider threat? He breaks into your home, consumes cookies, drinks milk/whisky and leaves a collection of items hidden behind highly decorated wrapping paper. Rumor has it that he can tell if you’re naughty or nice and is actively tracked by NORAD. Can we trust Santa with his elevated access? The answer is, of course, Yes, because we are all Santa. Santa is ultimate trusted Certificate Authority, entrusting intermediate trust to parents worldwide.

Monitoring user behavior is an effective practice for early detection and prevention of insider threats. Identifying suspicious user behavior can help eliminate potential threats, data breaches, and policy violations. Thus, your organization will better meet the requirements of many industry standards such as NIST, HIPAA, PCI DSS, and more. But to get the most out of user behavior monitoring, you need to better understand its principles.

According to the Gallup State of the Global Workplace: 2023 Report, worker stress is at an all-time high. While other issues related to the pandemic have subsided, stress is causing trouble for organizations, especially those with remote workers, where it is harder to spot issues. Where there is stress, there is risk. Employees make more mistakes and are more likely to intentionally create other problems for employers.

At Ekran System, we take our security and the protection of our partners and customers seriously. Our commitment to delivering the best insider risk management services motivated us to align our own security posture to the current Cyber Essentials standards. We are proud to announce that we have obtained the certification!