Are You Safe From Malicious Insider Threats by Remote Workers?

As many organizations begin resuming normal, in-office operations, they’re making decisions about what the future of work will look like – and for many companies, the future of work is hybrid. Remaining ready for remote work is a popular option for both companies and employees. Many organizations learned a tough lesson about remote work last year as lockdowns shifted everyone home. Businesses that had previously discouraged remote work discovered that their rigidity was a massive detriment, preventing them from adapting quickly to new circumstances. Companies that already had remote or hybrid schedules were prepared to rapidly pivot to all remote operations and they profited handsomely from that flexibility. Offering remote and hybrid work options is also a popular perk for employees who discovered that eliminating commutes allowed them to be more productive and less stressed. Gartner reports that 85% of company leaders say that they plan to allow employees to continue remote or hybrid work going forward. But flexible schedules and locations also bring risks of their own to the table, like an increased risk of malicious insider threats by remote workers.

No industry is safe from the threat of a data breach or other damaging security incident that comes from a malicious insider, and every organization that supports a remote workforce has an increased risk for that type of trouble. However, employees are generally in favor of hybrid work, and the advantages of businesses retaining operations flexibility are clear. So what can you do to secure your systems and data from the elevated risk of malicious insider threats from remote workers?

Gain Immediate Protection by Preventing Credential & Privilege Misuse

The top way that malicious insiders damage companies is through privilege misuse, making tools like multifactor authentication security superstars. In this scenario, an employee may sell or give their privileged password to someone who is not authorized to access sensitive data or critical systems. More than 80% of malicious insider breach incidents are caused by privilege misuse. An estimated 99% of cybercrimes that involve credential misuse can be prevented by multifactor authentication, yet less than 50% of businesses use it to support their remote workforce. Single sign on launchpads for each user enables IT teams to quarantine any user account and remove access permissions quickly, reducing the time to contain a breach.

Play the Long Game By Spying On the Places That Malicious Workers Do Business

Malicious insiders who are looking for a fast way to make a buck will inevitably turn to the dark web. They can contact eager buyers for passwords, access or data quickly through dark web message boards and forums. That’s why it pays for organizations to keep an eye on what’s going on in those dark web marketplaces – dark web risk is highly escalated these days by a booming cybercrime for a service economy and bustling data markets. Dark Web ID is the ideal tool to use to monitor for employee credentials appearing on the dark web. Human and machine intelligence is at work 24/7/365 to keep eyes in all of the worst places to make sure that your IT team is alerted immediately if an employee credential is spotted, giving your business an edge over bad actors.

Fuente: ID Agent