Intel released a white paper on the topic of security threats from insiders. Insiders are a particular challenge because you have to give them certain access and capabilities in order to do their jobs. This white paper tries to explain the risk of insiders. Reducing ambiguity and implementing best practices like separation of duties and the principle of least privilege can help mitigate some of the threat.
Many enterprises also do not differentiate between an “insider threat,” which is a potential for harm, and an “insider event,” which is the occurrence of a malicious or harmful activity.
Intel’s ‘A Field Guide to Insider Threat’ is available for download as a PDF. In its nine pages, it provides an executive overview, business challenge, and solutions to the problem including a field guide matrix, event type classification, agent profiles, and explanation of personas to simplify discussing threats.
Insider events could include accidental leaks, misuse, fraud, physical theft, violence, sabotage, product alteration, opportunistic data theft, and espionage. The insider threat is bigger than most guard against. Download Intel’s Insider Threat Field Guide to get a better understanding of the risk.