Internal Breach

Internal breach is defined as exposing confidential, sensitive, or protected information to an unauthorized person. In a breach, files are viewed and/or shared without permission.

Every day, companies across the country experience breaches of confidentiality. A breach may occur when a trade secret is disclosed to a competitor, an employee’s private information is disclosed, or clients suffer the consequences of negligent privacy practices.

Internal breaches can happen to anyone, from individuals to high-level corporations and governments. More importantly, if they are not protected, anyone can endanger others.

In general, internal breaches happen due to weaknesses in:

• Technology
• User behavior

Since the implementation of data protection laws, such as GDPR, all businesses have been required to actively protect sensitive data, and it is the responsibility of company executives and their departments, in collaboration with IT, to ensure that company data, wherever it resides, remains secure.

A number of high-profile data breaches have already occurred in 2018, demonstrating the seriousness of the threat that cyber-criminals now pose to organizations. While external hacker attacks continue to pose a threat to businesses, it is clear from unpacking these reported breaches that the threat from within the organization is just as serious.

Employees clearly pose a threat to their employer through day-to-day actions such as haphazardly sharing sensitive data across the internal network, with 65 percent of these internal incidents being identified as accidental or inadvertent rather than malicious in intent. The greater the number of people who have access to information, the greater the risk of a leak.

With GDPR now fully implemented, every department within an organization must be aware of the potential security risks associated with the data they use. GDPR rules include shared responsibility clauses, which state that if a third party with whom you have shared sensitive information loses the data, you are equally responsible as they are. This change emphasizes the importance of employees being aware of their own behavior and consequences when it comes to information security.

To reduce the risk of an internal security breach, organizations must first address employee usage and data handling education.

COMMON TYPES OF INSIDER THREATS

Many organizations concentrate their insider threat management programs on dealing with malicious insiders; however, negligence is more common. In fact, 60% of all data breaches involving an insider are unintentional.

Insider threats of this type take actions that unintentionally put the organization at risk. An employee, for example, may leave an unencrypted mobile device or laptop containing sensitive data unattended in a location where it could be stolen. These insider threats do not act maliciously, but they do put the organization at risk.

• Departing Employees

Employees leaving a company, voluntarily or involuntarily, are another common insider threat that organizations face. The most common threat in this case is data theft, which is especially common with involuntary employees or those who are about to leave. Employees who leave involuntarily, as well as those who plan to leave, pose the greatest risk.

While any intellectual property or company data generated or used by an employee belongs to the company, it is common for employees to regard their creations as their own. Indeed, one-third of employees believe it is common for employees to transfer data from their previous employer to their new position. This type of data theft can significantly impair an organization’s ability to compete in the marketplace.

• Security Evaders

Security policies and controls are intended to help safeguard the organization, its data, and its employees. However, these rules are frequently regarded as inconvenient and a detriment to employee productivity.

As a result, in order to make their lives easier, employees may resort to security workarounds. Data sharing restrictions, for example, could be circumvented by saving files to a personal cloud drive. However, these workarounds can erode an organization’s visibility and control over its data, leaving it vulnerable to compromise (intentional or otherwise).

• Malicious Insiders

Security policies and controls are intended to help safeguard the organization, its data, and its employees. However, these rules are frequently regarded as inconvenient and a detriment to employee productivity.

As a result, in order to make their lives easier, employees may resort to security workarounds. Data sharing restrictions, for example, could be circumvented by saving files to a personal cloud drive. However, these workarounds can erode an organization’s visibility and control over its data, leaving it vulnerable to compromise (intentional or otherwise).

• Inside Agents

Inside agents are insiders who work on behalf of a larger group to carry out a data breach or other type of attack. These insiders may be malicious, duped through social engineering, or coerced through bribery or blackmail. This type of insider threat is dangerous because it gives an outside group insider access and privileges.

• Third-Party Partners

Because of the term “insider threat,” most organizations direct their attention and security efforts toward their employees. However, not all “insiders” work for the company.

94 percent of organizations grant access to their networks and systems to their vendors, suppliers, partners, and so on. These third parties have elevated permissions on these systems in 72% of the cases. External parties with similar access to an organization’s employees can pose the same risks and cause the same damage.

EXAMPLES OF WORKPLACE CONFIDENTIALITY VIOLATIONS

There are numerous scenarios in which workplace confidentiality violations may occur. Regardless of the specific circumstances that led to the violation, the fact remains that the consequences of a breach of confidentiality can be severe.

The employee who exfiltrated data after being fired or furloughed

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, 81% of the global workforce have had their workplace fully or partially closed. And, with the economy grinding to a halt, employees across industries have been laid off or furloughed. 
This has caused widespread distress.
When you combine this distress with the reduced visibility of IT and security teams while their teams work from home, you’re bound to see more incidents of Malicious Insiders. 


One such case involves a former employee of a medical device packaging company who was let go in early March 2020 
By the end of March – and after he was given his final paycheck – Dobbins hacked into the company’s computer network, granted himself administrator access, and then edited and deleted nearly 120,000 records. 
This caused significant delays in the delivery of medical equipment to healthcare providers.

The employees who exposed 250 million customer records

Here’s an example of a “negligent insider” threat. In December 2019, a researcher from Comparitech noticed that around 250 million Microsoft customer records were exposed on the open web.


This vulnerability meant that the personal information of up to 250 million people—including email addresses, IP addresses, and location—was accessible to anyone with a web browser.
This incident represents a potentially serious breach of privacy and data protection law and could have left Microsoft customers open to scams and phishing attacks—all because the relevant employees failed to secure the databases properly.
Microsoft reportedly secured the information within 24 hours of being notified about the breach.

The employee who fell for a phishing attack

While we’ve seen a spike in phishing and spear phishing attacks since the outbreak of COVID-19, these aren’t new threats.
One example involves an email that was sent to a senior staff member at Australian National University. The result? 700 Megabytes of data were stolen.


This data was related to both staff and students and included details like names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, emergency contact numbers, tax file numbers, payroll information, bank account details, and student academic records.

BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY CONSEQUENCES

A breach of confidentiality is frequently caused by the actions or failure to act of one or more individual employees. However, this does not mean that the company as a whole will be unaffected.

In fact, the unfortunate reality is that a breach of confidentiality by even one individual employee can have far-reaching consequences for the entire business entity.

• Loss of Trust – Violation of the terms frequently leads to the deterioration of those relationships as well as your reputation. Employees who violate confidentiality may face long-term consequences, including being blacklisted in the industry.
  
• Negative impacts on business – Internal breaches of confidentiality can have a negative impact on your company’s overall brand and reputation, both of which are important aspects of growing your business. As a result, your company may lose employees, future clients, branding opportunities, and more. This can eventually lead to a loss of valuable revenue for your company.
  
• Civil Lawsuits – The possibility of civil lawsuits arising from a breach of confidentiality is even more concerning for many businesses. The time and money required to defend against such an action can put your company in a difficult position.
  
• Criminal Charges – Criminal charges are only brought in extreme cases where the victim has suffered significant financial, emotional, or physical loss.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU BUSINESS EXPERIENCE BREACH

While it is critical to be prepared for a potential data breach, business owners who develop a cybersecurity plan may be able to prevent an attack from occurring at all. Some common cybersecurity strategies that business owners may wish to employ include:

• Employee Education – One of the most effective ways to prevent a cyberattack is to teach employees best cybersecurity practices. Businesses can significantly reduce the risk of a breach by training employees to use complex passwords, avoid opening attachments in emails from unknown senders, and dispose of sensitive information safely.
  
• Limit sites that employees can visit – Tightening restrictions on which websites employees are permitted to visit reduces the likelihood of someone visiting a site with malicious links by accident.
  
• Use Security Programs – Installing firewalls, anti-malware, and antivirus software can prevent hackers from gaining access to data.
  
• Update Systems and Software – Making updates as soon as they are available can help to keep computer systems secure. In most cases, updates can be configured to occur automatically.
  
• Limit Data Exposure – Reduce the likelihood of a breach by consolidating the number of locations where data is stored, encrypting data during transmission, and deleting old, irrelevant data. Employers may also want to restrict the data that employees have access to.
  
  
  
  

Conclusion

Business owners that aren’t tech-savvy may want to consider consulting with a  professional to assess the business’s cybersecurity threats and help secure the network.

Maddlogic is here to guide and help your business to secure your data from employees by creating an app to  manage data that will help minimize the data exposure to employees and customers instead of doing it on excel and computer files.

These threats aren’t going anywhere, and they’re only getting better at coming up with new ways to break into computer systems and harvest data to feed into a third-party person. By being proactive when it comes to securing your data and small business insurance, business owners can protect their company, employees, and customers from having sensitive information stolen– and shelter the business from the costs and bad public relations that often accompany an internal breach.

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