What are Two Types of Insider Threats?

Insider threats in cybersecurity refer to risks that originate from individuals within an organization, such as employees, contractors, or business partners. These threats can be categorized into two main types: malicious and unintentional.

1. Malicious Insider Threats

These occur when an insider intentionally abuses their access to harm the organization. This could involve stealing sensitive data, sabotaging systems, or facilitating external cyber attacks. Malicious insiders might be motivated by financial gain, revenge, or ideological beliefs. They often have legitimate access to critical systems, making their actions harder to detect and prevent.

2. Unintentional Insider Threats

Unintentional insider threats stem from carelessness or lack of awareness, such as mistakenly sending sensitive data to wrong recipients, falling for phishing scams, misconfiguring servers, or losing devices with confidential information. These are often worsened by poor training or neglecting security protocols.

Recognizing these threats is key for organizations to mitigate risks. Effective strategies include strict access control, regular security training, user activity monitoring, and clear data handling and incident reporting policies.