Many companies take an “it will never happen here” mindset to insider threats because they believe they hire the best, most honest and trusted employees. That may be true in the beginning, after a bulletproof background screening done years ago. But later on, stress factors sometimes intrude in an individual’s life such as a difficult divorce, a DUI, or some other type of arrest, bankruptcy, or lien.
Most of the time, these stressors are external and out of sight of the employer. In some cases, they lead employees to disrupt events internally, which puts organizations at risk, even if executives know nothing about the individual circumstances.
There are many recent examples of workforce problems that have negatively affected large corporations financially and in terms of their reputations:
- A former Goodwill employee stole $93,000 from the charity by faking payroll records.
- A rogue Tesla employee broke into the company’s manufacturing operating system and sent highly sensitive data outside of the…
