The sophistication of IT security threats has increased tenfold in recent years; from deepfakes, nation state attacks and the rise in use of AI to automate attacks increasing the volume of attempts that cyber attackers are making, there is little escape for potential victims of cyber crime, writes James Lucas, CEO, CirrusHQ, an Amazon Web Services (AWS) and cloud consultancy.
As a result, organisations have trained themselves to be on high alert to the broad range of routes that shady individuals and organised groups can take to infiltrate them.
But cyber attacks are not just caused by those external to the organisation anymore; the risk of insider threat is the highest that it has ever been. Whether malicious or not, data reveals that incidents of insider threat have risen 44% since 2018, costing organisations tens of millions of pounds. As a result, it is vital that organisations look at other processes to mitigate the ever-present threat from both in and outside of their four walls.
Securing the whole IT perimeter
The democratisation of technology has empowered employees, enabling them to introduce new tools and platforms into the organisations that they work for in a bid to make their lives easier. This trend, exemplified by the recent surge in generative AI like ChatGPT and Gemini, has been ongoing for some time, as seen with the adoption of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and cloud-based services. But it isnโt without risk.
They bring with them a proliferation of entry points into an organisation’s network, including cloud-based applications and services, which has made it increasingly challenging for IT teams to โseal offโ the perimeter fully. The positive news is that it is possible to mitigate risks from these points of entry via a multi-layered security approach.
Strong access controls, regular security awareness training, robust network security, and comprehensive cloud security measures are essential to mitigate the risk of insider threats. However, these in turn need to be managed appropriately.
Managing access
This rise in accessibility of technology within organisations has also made it easier than ever to spin up a workload without the watchful eye of the IT team โ this is no different when it comes to the cloud. Not only does this have cost implications, but it also brings with it security considerations as more accounts may be added to the overall company account. Maintaining oversight of cloud estates can become a full-time job for an IT team โ not possible when there are other aspects of the IT estate which must be managed, maintained and upgraded.
As a result, we have seen value in tools coming to the market to automate the monitoring of an organisationโs cloud estate to avoid organisations becoming vulnerable from misconfiguration and to boost legal and regulatory compliance. This doesnโt need to be overly complicated. For example, managing access rights of users is a valuable route to mitigate the risk of insider threats. From read-only to editor access rights, maintaining a tightknit (and transparent) group of those who can make changes to cloud environments and the assets inside them will protect the organisation long term. Not only this, but it will also make it more visible to the organisation on who is making any amendments to the IT estate.
Time is of the essence
But when we look at lowering the risk of insider threats, we must also look more broadly at when the incident occurred. Rather unsurprisingly, the longer a cyber incident goes unnoticed, the deeper the problem could become. Data shows that incidents that took more than 90 days to contain cost organisations an average of $17.19 million each year.
As a result, it is vital that organisations are alerted in real-time to each and every single incident of insider threat. When it comes to the cloud, not only does the worry extend to data leakage but also governance breaches. When an organisationโs data is more valuable than it has ever been, should a case of insider threat take place and data is released into the wrong hands, reputational and commercial damage could ensue.
Not only is having access to a tool which can report any breaches in real-time hugely valuable, it is absolute that organisations put in place robust processes to ensure they can recover from said incident quickly. This is where working with a cloud partner can help. When in the eye of the storm, it can be overwhelming to try and do everything. But by engaging a cloud partner before a case of insider threat occurs, it is possible to establish a robust cloud governance strategy to hopefully avoid this.
This will not only enhance your operational efficiency but also safeguard your business from a range of threats, including data breaches, intellectual property theft, and regulatory non-compliance. Addressing the risk that insider threats present requires a multifaceted approach that combines technology, processes, and people. By prioritising security, organisations can safeguard their valuable assets and mitigate the risks associated with insider threats.
