Dealing With The Insider Threat

Running head: DEALING WITH THE INSIDER THREAT 1

Dealing With the Insider Threat

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DEALING WITH THE INSIDER THREAT 2

Dealing With the Insider Threat

Insider threats are malicious threats that an organization is exposed to through people

from within that organization. These people may include employees, former employees, business

associates and other stakeholders who are responsible for the day to day running of the

organization. Security threats, therefore, result because these people have a lot of information

concerning the company that may be leaked to malicious people or can be used by the insiders

themselves to sabotage the operations of the organization (Aldhizer III, 2008). Kelly suggests

that the biggest threat to an enterprise is the end users who are mostly targeted by attackers

because they are considered the weakest link to breaking into the security systems of that

organization (2006). They can not only be influenced and lured into sharing critical information

with outsiders but can also take part in malicious activities especially in cases of conflict because

they have an understanding of the security protocols and have legitimate access to the computer

systems of the company.

Technical solutions will, therefore, solve part of the problem but it is not the ultimate

solution. According to Kelly (2006) banking on security technologies alone cannot guarantee the

security of an organization. Resources have to be allocated to finance training programs for

employees and other internal stakeholders of an organization. Due to ignorance, employees

sometimes give out information without knowing the intentions of the other person or without

their knowledge that what they are sharing may have catastrophic impacts on the organization if

it is used by malicious people against it. With that in mind, senior members of staff and other

decision makers in an organization have to ensure that both technical measures and training

programs have to be applied to improve insulation against external attackers.

DEALING WITH THE INSIDER THREAT 3

An organization cannot completely do away with security risks and attacks. It can,

however, lay down mechanisms to contain security attacks before attackers can do any harm.

Apart from spending money on security technologies, as a security manager, you should also

focus on raising awareness and initiating security training programs for the employees (Aldhizer

III, 2008). Attacks like phishing require employees to be aware that malicious people intend to

acquire information from an organization. On the other hand, it is important to train employees

to have an understanding of more complex attacks like baiting and scareware. Hence, employees

should know how to handle such situations and what steps to take in case they encounter a

security attack problem.

DEALING WITH THE INSIDER THREAT 4

References

Aldhizer III, G. R. (2008). The insider threat: automated identity and access controls can help

organizations mitigate risks to important data. Internal Auditor, 65(2), 71-73

Kelly, C. J. (2006). Awareness trumps new security toys.COMPUTERWORLD-NEWTON THEN

FRAMINGHAM MASSACHUSETTS-, 40(41), 44.

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