Human error and insider threats: Tackling weakest link in cyber security

Human mistakes and insider threats are two of the primary concerns in organizational cybersecurity today. According to a recent research by Gurucul, 48% of organizations saw an increase in insider attacks over the past year, and 83% reported at least one attack.

External attacks often dominate the conversation, but the greatest security risks often come from within an organization. Therefore, it's crucial for cybersecurity strategies to address insider threats and human errors, as they can have devastating effects.

Human error in cyber security
Human error is still the leading cause of a security breach. With the rapid development of technology, employees are usually the biggest security risk. The Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report 2024 reveals that most breaches had a non-malicious human element, such as social engineered attacks where a person has been victimized or made an error in the manner of presenting sensitive information, or merely/phishing insecurely set up security configurations.

The most frequent human error occurs through phishing, which involves a cybercriminal creating a fake email or website to trick employees into revealing their credentials or downloading malware. A system is also vulnerable due to poor password management and failure to apply critical security patches.

Insider threats: A growing risk
While human mistakes are often accidental, insider threats involve intentional actions by individuals within an organization. Employees, contractors, or business partners may misuse their authorized access for malicious purposes or personal gain, often evading detection because they operate within normal access levels.

The insider could steal the company's intellectual property, sabotage the systems, or introduce malware. They know the network of an organization and its security protocols, so they can sneak past any defense, which makes them a significant risk.

Impact of human error and insider threats
The results of human error and insider threats are disastrous. Data breaches because of human mistakes lead to the theft of sensitive customer data, loss of financial value, and fines from regulatory bodies. A breach can damage an organization's reputation, resulting in a loss of customers' and partners' trust.

Insider threats cause far more damage, as a malicious insider can steal data and disrupt systems, contributing to long-term operation and financial impacts. Trust violations due to insider threats are tough to recover from because they also stress internal relationships and external relationships.

Addressing the weakest link
Organizations can take proactive measures to prevent human error and insider threats using a combination of technology, policies, and awareness by the employees. No strategy can eliminate such risks, but a multi-layered defense can greatly reduce their likelihood and impact.

• Employee training and awareness: Minimizing human errors requires regular training such as recognizing phishing attempts, following password management best practices, and knowing basic data protection principles should be what the employees learn. A security-conscious culture promotes the avoidance of preventable errors.

• Access controls and monitoring: Role-based access control (RBAC) can protect the access of employees to sensitive information and expose them to data and systems that they will require to perform their roles. Monitoring tools can track and reveal suspicious behavior among employees as it may cause them to be insiders committing insider threats.

• Multi-factor authentication (MFA): MFA is that which protects the user through multiple forms of verification, such as a password and a code received on the phone, in case the credentials might be compromised against unauthorized access.

• Behavioral analytics and AI: Advanced tools including behavioral analytics and AI, allow monitoring of inside threats by analyzing activity patterns. Such systems flag unusual behaviors that access sensitive data without authorized access, thus detecting risks sooner compared to other methods.

• Incident response planning: A well-defined incident response plan protects organizations from human error as well as insider threats, ensuring response time is rapid. The plan's testing and updating at regular intervals mean that your teams are equipped for the effective management and mitigation of breaches.

Conclusion
Insider threats and human mistakes remain two of the biggest cyber security threats. While technology is necessary against external threats, just as important is mitigating the human factor. Organizations can improve security through these risks by implementing state-of-the-art security technologies, incident response plans, access controls, and personnel training. 

Building a stronger cyber security posture that protects private data and makes the environment safer for everyone may also be facilitated by having stronger people.

-- Shibu Paul, VP, International Sales at Array Networks.