Insider Risk: How Are You Protecting Your Organization?

INSIDER THREATS CAN EMERGE UNEXPECTEDLY IF POLICIES & TECHNICAL MEASURES ARE NOT IN PLACE.

Consider this scenario: A large company underwent a workforce reduction, prompting employees to download files before departure. One employee intended to reuse files from their career and transferred them to a personal external drive. Unfortunately, these files included sensitive information about the company’s plans, including intellectual property that differentiated their products, go-to-market strategies, and potential vulnerabilities. 

How did this occur? The company had insufficient policies and technical protections to safeguard its intellectual property and critical data. Following the announcement of the workforce cut, employees maintained access to systems without any measures to prevent the loss of sensitive data. 

This illustrates just one instance of insider risk. It is crucial for businesses to implement proactive policies and procedures supported by strong technical safeguards and to conduct regular drills, such as tabletop exercises, that test these policies across all departments, not just within IT.