Are You Prepared For Hackers Hiding In Your Company?
Nothing makes an organization more vulnerable than having a hacker in your midst. Only top-tier cybersecurity measures can deter and identify hackers.
Take a moment and consider this scenario. You own a business and catch a trusted employee slipping a twenty into their pocket. The employee apologizes, says it will never happen again and gives you a sob story about being in severe economic straits. Do you give that employee a second chance?
By the way, that was a rhetorical question. You fire the employee because it’s not the first time they stole from you. It’s just the first time they got caught, and it will happen again as soon as you turn your back. The reality of seemingly honest employees is that inside jobs are pervasive. According to Report to the Nations: 2018 Global Study on Occupational Fraud and Abuse, non-cash theft that can be transferred into dollars jumped from 10.6 percent in 2002 to 21 percent in 2018. That is precisely the type of criminal mentality that makes rooting out cybersecurity threats from within your organization essential.
Without checks in place and ways to identify these moles, your valuable data can be slipped into any employee’s electronic pocket and sold off on the dark web or to a competitor. These are ways an experienced cybersecurity expert can deter and identify a cybercriminal hiding in your ranks.
1: Implement Administrative Controls
We have all heard the term “need to know basis,” and that is the crux of administrative controls. Cybercriminals are generally intelligent and nefarious by nature. While compelled to steal your sensitive data out of greed, thrill, or anger toward the organization, they are likely to try to cover their tracks. Utilizing someone else’s computer or reaching into areas of the network, they are not expected to be working are ways to get away with the crime. Keep everyone in their lane by insisting on Role-Based Access Control (RBAC). For a hacker to steal data, they will have to go outside their designated network area, and that breach can be detected and traced back to the hacker.
2: Implement Stringent Technical Controls
Classifying data goes hand-in-hand with administrative controls because it limits access to information. This measure creates an internal deterrent to hackers even knowing the nature of the material and its value. This measure forces cybercriminals to go on a veritable treasure hunt in your network. They will leave telltale markers when trying to override technical controls. Your cybersecurity oversight team will likely recognize their efforts. Don’t be surprised if they give you a cashier-like story and say it will never happen again. Keep in mind, they were casing your network for a break-in.
3: Enforce Separation of Duties at All Times
It’s important to understand that the mind of a cybercriminal tends to be a patient one. Their methods are not those of a drug addict pulling a snatch-and-grab. Instead, they go to work each day, may garner good performance ratings, and are friendly around the water cooler.
One of the opportunities that invite cyber-theft is when coworkers are out sick or on vacation. In those situations, employees may be asked to multitask or pick up the slack of unavailable team members. Once they have a login, password, or understand how to gain access to valuable data, they have the combination to your data vault. A hacker might not hit you that day or the next, but the breach is inevitable.
Rather than invite a burglar into your system, make sure that duties are not doled out to those with lesser clearance or from other departments. If a hacker tries to penetrate an unauthorized area of your network, make sure they will have to leave electronic fingerprints.
According to a study reported in Entrepreneur, “90 percent of respondents indicated that the primary reason for the data theft upon departure was because their employer did not have a policy or technology in place to prevent them from doing it.” Upwards of 85 percent of employees confessed to taking company work product they created. Another 25-35 percent reportedly said they stole source coding, patent information, and personal customer information.
As an industry decision-maker, it’s critical to understand you are unlikely to look someone in the eye and know they cannot be trusted. You have to put measures in place that make it difficult to steal and allow you to identify the source of an inside job swiftly. Nothing makes an organization more vulnerable than having a hacker in your midst. Only top-tier cybersecurity measures can deter and identify hackers.
Experienced Chief Executive Officer with a demonstrated history of working in the information technology and services industry. Skilled in Customer Relationship Management (CRM), IT Service Management, Team Building, IT Strategy, and Management. Strong entrepreneurship professional with a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) focused in Computer/Information Technology Administration and Management from Humboldt University of Berlin (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin).
