Helping Stop Insider Threats at Your Agency

By Joe Kim, SolarWinds EVP, Engineering & Global CTO

Last year, in SolarWinds’ annual cybersecurity survey of federal IT managers, respondents listed “careless and untrained insiders” as a top cybersecurity threat, tying “foreign governments” at 48 percent. External threats may be more sensational, but for many federal network administrators, the biggest threat may be sitting right next to them.

To combat internal threats in your IT environment, focus your attention on implementing a combination of tools, procedures, and good old-fashioned information sharing.

Technology

Our survey respondents identified tools pertaining to identity and access management, intrusion prevention and detection, and security information and log and event management software as “top- tier” tools to prevent both internal and external threats. Each of these can help network administrators automatically identify potential problems and trace intrusions back to their source, whether that source is a foreign attacker or simply a careless employee who left an unattended USB drive on their desk.

Training

Some 16 percent of the survey respondents cited “lack of end-user security training” as a significant cause of increased agency vulnerability. The dangers, costs and threats posed by accidental misuse of agency information, mistakes and employee error shouldn’t be underestimated. Agency employees need to be acutely aware of the risks that carelessness can bring.

Policies

While a majority of agencies (55 percent) feel that they are just as vulnerable to attacks today as they were a year ago, the survey indicates that more feel they are less vulnerable (28 percent) than more vulnerable (16 percent), hence the need to make policies a focal point to prevent network risks. These policies can serve as blueprints that outline agencies’ overall approaches to security, but should also contain specific details regarding authorized users and the use of acceptable devices. That’s especially key in this new age of bring-your-own-anything.

Finally, remember that security starts with you and your IT colleagues. As you’re training others in your organization, take time to educate yourself. Read up on the latest trends and threats. Talk to your peers. Visit online forums. And see how experts and bloggers (like yours truly) are noting how the right combination of technology, training, and policies can effectively combat cybersecurity threats.

  Find the full article on GovLoop.