An insider threat is a cyber security risk that originates from within any organization that is being targeted by attackers. Often, insider threats involve a current or former employee, or business associate, who has access to sensitive information or privileged accounts, and who misuses this access. Sometimes it is an outside attacker who gains credentialed access and waits for the right time to strike. In both cases, traditional security measures tend to focus on external threats and are not always capable of identifying an internal threat from inside the organization.
A paper written by Forrester Research in late 2021, Insider Threats Drive Data Protection Improvements, revealed that 58 percent of sensitive data security incidents are caused by insider threats. This report highlighted that nearly a third (31 percent) of firms surveyed do not believe insiders are a substantial threat, and suggests this is a principal reason why insider threats make up such a high proportion of security incidents.
While company leadership teams acknowledge that insider threats pose some risks, they don’t generate the level of urgency required to manage this risk effectively. This failure…
