The 13 Key Elements of an Insider Threat Program

In the last three years, since the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the nature of the workplace has changed significantly. As of February, 76 percent of the workforce with a job that can be done from home in the United States was working a hybrid or completely remote schedule, according to Pew Research. Of that number, roughly one-third is completely remote. In this evolving work climate, organizations need to be increasingly vigilant against malicious and unintentional (non-malicious) insider incidents. Many organizations never experience a headline-grabbing, large-scale insider incident. Instead, many insider incidents are accidental or non-malicious, typically the result of a security incident or policy violation. According to our research, distraction is a key factor in unintentional insider threat incidents. Distracted workers are more likely to make mistakes that can endanger an organization, such as failing to use their company's virtual private network (VPN) or clicking on phishing links in email. For many hybrid and remote workers, distractions involving workspaces in close proximity to children and other family members can lead to unintentional risk. Comprehensive enterprise risk management that includes an insider risk program is a key component to securing organizations in this new environment. In this post, we present the 13 key elements of an insider threat program.