Modern cyberattacks don’t always come from outside an organization. In many cases, the risk comes from people who already have access to sensitive data, such as employees, contractors, or business partners. These risks are known as insider threats.
Identifying and reducing insider threats is a key part of modern security. It means moving beyond a focus on perimeter defenses and taking a broader approach that looks at user behavior and how data is accessed.
Insider Threats Explained
What is an insider threat? It’s mainly a network security risk that originates from within a targeted organization.
This type of cyberattack usually involves a current or former employee who already has authorized access to the infrastructure and system’s data. Because these individuals already have the required credentials, they may be able to hide under the radar and not bring up any red flags to the IT team until it’s too late.
The Three Main Types of Insider Threats
Understanding the different types of insider threats helps strengthen your security because you know what to watch for. Below are the types we see most often:
The Malicious Insider
This is the classic case of the rogue employee. They intentionally abuse their access for personal gain, revenge, or sabotage. Their motivations might include financial distress, a perceived grievance against the company, or corporate espionage.
Because they know where the “crown jewels” are stored, be it intellectual property, customer databases, or financial records, they can cause devastating damage quickly.
The Negligent Insider
Often called the “accidental threat,” this is simply a user who makes a mistake. They aren’t trying to hurt the company; they are just trying to get their work done, but ignore security protocols in the process.
Examples of insider threats in this category include clicking a phishing link in an email or writing a password on a sticky note. Even something as simple as leaving a laptop unlocked in a public place can be a risk. Despite the lack of malicious intent, negligent insiders account for a major portion of data breaches.
The Compromised Insider
In this scenario, an external attacker steals a legitimate user’s credentials.
The employee is unaware that their account is being used by a bad actor. To the security system, the activity appears to be valid user behavior, but it is actually a cybercriminal operating under the guise of a trusted employee. This often happens through credential harvesting or sophisticated spear-phishing campaigns.
How Serious Are Insider Threats?
When an insider threat occurs, the impact can be far-reaching. It’s more than an IT issue. It can disrupt day-to-day operations and damage an organization’s reputation. Data loss and financial harm can make it feel like years of work disappeared overnight.
Reputational damage is just as serious. Trust takes time to earn and can be lost quickly, especially today. Clients and partners may think twice about working with an organization that can’t protect its internal systems.
How To Protect Your Organization From Insider Threats: 3 Key Steps
Insider threats are nothing new to cybersecurity experts. Our team recommends a multi-layered approach for the best security.
Follow these three steps to proactively protect your organization from insider threats:
Step One: Robust Access Controls
Your organization’s employees and staff should only have access to specific data. A secure network hardware client and other innovative security technologies can help you protect your most sensitive data and make it visible to only essential eyes.
You don’t want to be giving full access to anyone and everyone. Regularly review access rights, especially when employees change roles or leave the company.
Step Two: Invest in Employee Training
Employee cybersecurity training might not be the first line of defense that comes to mind, but it’s an extremely helpful way to make sure your team is aware of what insider threats and other security risks look like within the organization.
Regular security awareness training helps employees recognize and understand the importance of following security protocols. Build a culture where security is everyone’s responsibility, not just the IT department’s problem.
Step Three: Deploy Monitoring Systems
Implement a monitoring system that gives you a clear view of where threats might emerge within your organization.
Network security monitoring tools like Wazuh can tell you if a user on your network is doing something that seems suspicious.
For instance, if an accounting employee suddenly starts downloading gigabytes of engineering schematics at 3:00 AM, the system should flag this anomaly immediately. These tools are immensely helpful in making sure your IT team is aware of every threat in real time as it happens.
How Can a Cybersecurity Solution Help You?
If you want to be prepared for any threat that comes your way, consider partnering with a company that specializes in protecting high-risk agencies and organizations. Fognigma’s secure, traceless, zero trust networks safeguard not only data, but also the identity and location of users.
By masking the digital footprint of sensitive operations, we also reduce the chance that compromised insiders can harm your organization. This approach to secure data protection helps limit exposure and sharply narrows the paths attackers can use.
Partner With Fognigma For Protection — Inside and Out
Insider threats are complex and often difficult to predict. It isn’t always clear when an internal risk might surface or how to stop it before damage is done.
At Fognigma, we believe organizations can put themselves in a strong position by combining the right security measures with consistent, practical employee training.
It’s also important to understand that insider threats can’t be addressed with a single firewall or antivirus update. Protecting against them takes ongoing vigilance and well-defined security best practices. Our suite of network solutions can safeguard what matters most to your organization and keep it from being compromised from within or without.
If you’re looking for a trusted partner to help implement these protections, request a free demo today to learn more.