Insider risk is one of the biggest cybersecurity threats that businesses face today. Insiders include employees, contractors or business partners with legitimate access to a company’s network, systems or data. Some misuse their access intentionally, while others make mistakes or fall victim to cybercriminals.
The cost of these threats increase every year. According to Ponemon, the average cost of an insider threat has risen to $17.4 million—up from $16.2 million in 2023. And IBM's Cost of a Data Breach Report shows that breaches caused by malicious insiders are the most expensive, averaging $4.99 million per incident.
It’s a risk that businesses can’t afford to ignore. So, how do you protect your business? It starts with understanding the risks and building a strong insider threat program. Here, we’ll break down what insider threats really are, why they’re so dangerous and how to stop them.
Understanding insider threats
Insider threats can be intentional or accidental. Either way, they can lead to serious security incidents that have significant implications.
Types of insider threats
Understanding the different types of insider threats is crucial for implementing effective security measures to protect your organization's sensitive data. Here are the top types to be aware of:
- Malicious insiders. Individuals who intentionally cause harm, such as stealing, leaking or destroying data.
- Careless insiders. Users who unknowingly put data at risk.
- Compromised insiders. Users whose accounts are stolen by external attackers.
How insiders become threats
Threats generally fall into two categories: unintentional and intentional.
1) Unintentional insider threats
This type of insider threat is usually caused by careless users. These users make honest mistakes like downloading malware. Or they take risky actions, like sending emails to the wrong people, attaching the wrong files, or sending sensitive data to personal email accounts for work purposes.
While these types of incidents may seem benign, their consequences can be severe. This is especially true in cases when sensitive or confidential information is shared with the wrong individual, customer or vendor. Unfortunately, they are hard to predict, difficult to detect and can go unnoticed until significant damage has been done.
2) Intentional insider threats
This type of insider threat is caused by malicious users who might be employees, business partners, contractors or other third parties. These individuals have access to sensitive data and critical systems. They may intentionally commit fraud, sabotage, or espionage for personal gain, to harm the business, or both.
Losing sensitive data can be highly disruptive and damaging. In the Proofpoint 2024 Data Loss Landscape report, 85% of surveyed companies said that they had experienced a data loss incident. For 50% of that group, the incidents caused business disruption.
Notable cases of insider threats
Beyond data breaches: the insider threat case of a Google engineer
The case of Linwei Ding, a former Google engineer, is a major example of an insider threat. U.S. prosecutors claim he stole AI trade secrets while secretly working with two Chinese companies.
What happened?
Ding allegedly uploaded over 1,000 confidential Google files, which included details on Google’s supercomputing systems used for AI training. Some stolen chip blueprints gave Google an edge over rivals like Amazon and Microsoft. Ding had undisclosed ties to Chinese companies and planned to become the CTO of one. He was arrested before he could leave the United States.
Why it matters?
Insider threats aren’t just about data leaks. They can involve intellectual property theft, sabotage and even national security risks. This case shows that even top tech companies are vulnerable. Strong internal security is just as important as external defenses.
Corporate espionage in tech: Rippling vs. Deel
Rippling, a workforce management startup, is suing its competitor Deel, accusing them of corporate espionage.
What happened?
A Rippling employee allegedly ran thousands of unauthorized searches, digging up internal data about Deel. When Rippling’s security team detected the employee’s unusual activity, it set up a fake Slack channel called “d-defectors” as a honeypot to prove that Deel’s top leadership was involved. It then sent a letter referencing that Slack channel to three senior executives. Soon after, the insider tried to access it, which confirmed their suspicions.
When confronted with a court order to hand over his phone, the employee locked himself in a bathroom, presumably to delete evidence. When he was warned that deleting evidence would likely get him put in jail, he said he was "willing to take that risk.”
Why it matters
This isn’t just a case of stolen data—it’s corporate espionage. Insider threats don’t always look like a hacker breaking in. Sometimes, they’re trusted employees working from the inside. This case shows why companies need more than just strong cybersecurity. They also need ways to detect suspicious behavior before real damage is done.
Goals of an insider threat program
Detect potential insider threats
Early detection is critical. This means using tools like behavioral analytics and user activity monitoring to detect unusual activity. For example, if an employee suddenly starts downloading large amounts of sensitive data or accessing files outside their normal scope of work, it could signal a potential threat.
Prevent incidents through training and awareness
Many insider threats are caused by carelessness. That’s why educating users about cybersecurity is so important. Equip your people with the knowledge needed to maintain security protocols and identify suspicious behavior.
Create processes for investigating and responding to threats
Even with the best preventive measures in place, insider incidents still happen. When they do, organizations need a clear plan for investigating and responding quickly. This includes having a dedicated team that can analyze what happened and take appropriate action—whether that’s monitoring the user, discipling them or taking legal action.
Balance privacy and security
A key goal of any insider threat program is to balance user privacy with security controls. The rise of digital transformation has created a massive increase in data, while sensitive business information is more vulnerable due to remote work and the spread of devices. Protecting this data is important but it must be done in a way that respects user privacy.
Governments worldwide have issued regulations to guide this balance. These include:
- GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)
- CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act)
- HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)
- LGPD (General Data Protection Law)
These laws are becoming more complex, and compliance is a top priority for human resources and legal teams. To succeed, your program should answer questions like:
- How will data be collected, used and retired?
- How will privacy be protected?
- What checks and balances will be in place?
- How will intellectual property be safeguarded?
By addressing these concerns, your program can protect sensitive data while respecting privacy rights and company culture.
Protect critical assets and intellectual property
At the heart of any insider threat program is the need to protect valuable company assets, like trade secrets, financial records and customer data. You can minimize your risk by implementing access controls, encrypting sensitive data and using data loss prevention (DLP) tools to protect sensitive data and limit access to that data. Another important step is to limit access to confidential data according to your employees’ roles and remove access once employees leave the organization.
Key components of an effective insider threat program
An effective insider threat program requires a comprehensive approach that combines personnel, technology, policies, training and ongoing assessments.
Define who’s on your insider threat team
You need a dedicated team for managing and mitigating insider threats. This team should include members from multiple departments:
- Security manages security risks, including identifying risks and implementing strategies to protect against them.
- Human resources enforces policies and deals with any employee behavioral concerns.
- Legal and compliance ensures that the organization follows the law, and it manages the legal implications of when it doesn’t.
Executive sponsors provide oversight and strategic direction.
Implement technology and tools
The right tools will have capabilities like:
- Activity monitoring for tracking user behavior and data movement
- AI-powered behavioral analytics to identify risky user patterns
- Access and privacy controls to restrict data access based on user roles
- Audit logs and analysis to identify potential risks.
- AI-driven anomaly detection for pattern recognition.
Create policies and procedures
It’s important that you establish rules around mitigating risks. These should include:
- Acceptable use policies define the appropriate use of company resources.
- Access control policies restrict and monitor data access.
- Reporting procedures encourage employees to report suspicious activities.
- Disciplinary actions outline consequences for policy violations.
Train employees regularly
When you educate employees on insider threats, they can recognize risks and respond confidently. Effective training should cover:
- Recognizing insider threats. Employees should know how to identify warning signs like unusual access requests, large data transfers or sudden changes in behavior. A culture of vigilance enables early detection.
- Cyber hygiene. Strong security habits—secure passwords, phishing awareness and safe data handling—are essential. Training should cover multifactor authentication (MFA), social engineering and proper data disposal.
- Confidentiality and compliance. Training should cover data classification, key regulations and the consequences of non-compliance.
Design an incident response plan
A structured incidence response plan allows you to minimize damage and recover quickly. It should include:
- Identification and containment. Quickly isolating affected systems or personnel.
- Investigation and assessment. Determining the scope and impact of the threat.
- Mitigation and remediation. Implementing corrective measures.
- Post-incident review: Learning from incidents to improve future response.
Measure success
To make sure your program is effective, you need to track clear success metrics like how many incidents are detected, how quickly they’re responded to and how well your organization complies with security policies. Doing so will help you spot weaknesses, improve training, refine your strategies and strengthen your overall security.
It’s also important to gather employee feedback through surveys, evaluate their security awareness and check how well they’re following your security policies.
Conclusion
Businesses can’t afford to ignore insider threats. Whether from malice or carelessness, they can lead to serious insider-led incidents, resulting in financial losses and reputational damage. That’s why having a proactive insider threat program is so important. By focusing on early detection, clear policies, employee training and the right security tools, you can mitigate the risk and protect your most valuable assets.
Now is a great time to take a closer look at your security measures. Are you doing enough to detect and mitigate insider threats? If you want to build or enhance your Insider Threat Program, learn how to get started in this eBook.
