Protecting company data means more than keeping external threats at bay. Insider threats are multi-million-dollar incidents, with damages rising every year.

33 percent of all data breaches are caused by someone whose face you might have seen around the office. Over the past two years, the average global cost of insider threats has risen 31 percent to $11.5 million, and the frequency of incidents is up 47 percent.

While motives vary from foreign allegiances to financial gain to general disdain for the enterprise, the fact is, malicious insiders do your company harm.

Here’s how to stop them.

Utilize Deep Analytics

Monitoring user behavior, such as login times and system access patterns, can help your IT department identify deviations in user behavior and isolate cybersecurity risks. Risk analysis software can detect abnormal or excessive access permissions and assign a risk score to each suspicious activity, so you can prioritize responses to security incidents and events. According to IBM, the use of user behavior analytics has helped organizations save an average of $3.4 million a year.

Establish an Information Security Team

Heaping responsibility for cybersecurity onto overworked IT staff is not the solution. Your security team should be dedicated to identifying, detecting, remediating, and preventing security threats, risks, and vulnerabilities. This team should start by performing a comprehensive risk analysis to identify critical assets, system vulnerabilities, process risks, and determine how to improve user training and incident response plans.

Train Your Staff

Sometimes, the insider is simply an unaware, negligent employee who means no harm. Ensure that all employees are trained in corporate security policies and procedures, compliance requirements, and best practices. Reinforce key points through newsletters, emails, and staged phishing attacks.

For more information on how to stop insider threats, contact Securance for a free consultation.