Website owners are often unaware of how many attacks on their network and website might be caused by an inside job. But according to recent data, almost half of organizations have had to deal with some sort of insider attack in 2018. What’s worse is that these can occur even if everything was put in place to protect your website from outsiders. And in other cases, internal threats can be totally accidental, such as employees falling prey to phishing scams or inadvertently erasing important files. Here are some of the most common signs that you may be dealing with an insider threat.
Behavioral and Personality Changes
Before you start looking at your systems, you have to understand that insider attacks do not happen out of the blue, and there are some precursors in some of your employees that could raise some red flags.
Maybe you start noticing that one or a group of employees are becoming disgruntled and more vocal about their work conditions. They could be complaining about their workload, hours, wages, etc. Pay special attention if these are people in charge of important functions. This will give you an idea of who could be responsible if your site suffers a major shutdown. You can then work with a data forensics service to see who’s at cause here. Companies like Secure Forensics will not only be able to find the source of the attack, but also help you recover any files that were possibly deleted or corrupted.
Major Organizational Changes
Another factor that would prompt an insider attack is if there are major changes looming with the company or with an individual. For instance, if there’s talks of acquisition or restructuring of your company, employees might start panicking or try to get their hands on anything they can before everything blows up. Or, they might be up for disciplinary action, and do a preemptive attack. So, make sure you pay special attention during these times and increase your vigilance and security.
Failed Data Access Attempts
Other things you should be looking at is whether someone is suspiciously trying to download tons of files from your web server,or if you notice several failed attempts from users trying to access data that they shouldn’t be able to.
This is one of the most obvious signs that someone is trying to do something malicious here. This could be an inside attacker trying to do some reconnaissance and see what kind of data they can access and what they can’t. Another sign is if an employee demands access to info that is completely unrelated to their functions. If that’s the case, make sure that you monitor this employee’s actions closely and make sure that crucial information is properly safeguarded.
Insider threats are some of the most difficult to avoid and could have severe repercussions for your website. Make sure that you keep an eye out for any of the warning signs we just enumerated and follow through immediately if you think one, or a group of employees, might be cooking up an attack.
