Defending against malicious insiders: a conceptual framework for predicting, detecting, and deterring malicious insiders

Abstract

Malicious insiders are posing unique security challenges to organisations owing to their knowledge, capabilities, and authorised access to information systems. Data theft and IT sabotage are two of the most recurring themes among crimes committed by malicious insiders. This paper has two aims: first, we investigate the scale and scope of malicious insider risks and explore the impact of such threats on business operations. Secondly, we present a conceptual design of the insider threat security framework (ITSF) that is able to provide self-protection capabilities. Our objective is to propose protection mechanisms that could minimise risk and battle unique threats posed by potential malicious insiders. Although as yet untested, the ITSF will treat every employee or user of a system as a prospective hacker. We believe this approach is feasible, affordable and assures compliance with systems security requirements as well as regulatory standards.