Insider threats are the threats from people who possess access to systems and sensitive information of your organization. This can include former employees, current employees, temporary workers, contractors, or partners, who have authorized access to your sensitive data, applications, files, etc.

Security awareness best practices that help prevent insider threats:

The below ten security awareness best practices can assist CISOs and security leaders in averting insider threats from damaging their organizations.

• Initiate a sturdy internal network and system permissions for every employee. Make sure you grant system access to those who need it to fulfill their job functions.
• Ensure that all the employees, contractors, interns, etc. acquire regular and consistent security awareness training. Make use of phishing and ransomware simulations for monitoring awareness and understanding of cyber threat risks.
• Complete background checks on employees, specifically to those who need access to sensitive data.
• Define strict data access controls, so that the employees only have access to the information they require. Review and analyze requests carefully for additional network or system access.
• Initiate a data classification and handling policy. For high-risk data, leverage data loss technologies.
• Remind employees that every network activity is logged and monitored. Ensure that people understand user accounts and permissions must be used for business purposes only.
• Establish strong Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) rules and permissions on how data is used, shared, and stored.
• Make certain that the employees are knowledgeable about remote work cyber security best practices and also mobile device security best practices.
• Define strong password policies and user account privileges. Periodically monitor accounts, making sure that all accounts are updated or closed when an employee changes roles or leaves your organization.
• Establish network access rules for limiting the use of personal devices and sharing of information anywhere outside of your corporate network.

As you try to address cyber-security risks, it is necessary to raise awareness across your organization on how and why insider threats occur and also methods to recognize deliberate insider threat behaviors.