Why Your Organisation Needs Strong Insider Threat Controls

Ahead of Cifas’ Annual Insider Threat Week 2023, we sat down with Tracey Carpenter, Insider Threat Manager at Cifas to talk about why organisations must have the correct controls in place to keep their organisation safe.

Which organisations are at risk from the insider threat?

There is a commonality that all employers face, whether they have one additional employee or they have tens of thousands of employees and that is vulnerability to the insider threat risk. No organisation is exempt from it.

If an employer has long standing employees or there is a high level of trust within the organisation, does this reduce the level of risk?

This isn’t a popular opinion, but it absolutely does not. Trust is not a control against the insider threat and it’s a mistake many organisations make. There are regular stories in the press about trusted or long term employees who have stolen from their employer - often over many years - and sometimes sadly the losses can be so high that the company is unable to recover and ends up being wound up.

Has the insider threat changed in a post-Covid world?

Yes, post-Covid we see more employees working from home, those working multiple roles in the same working day and increasingly those who are struggling in the cost-of-living crisis. Many employees are feeling the squeeze financially and that can lead some people – who would never have thought to do it before - to commit dishonest conduct. Employees will rationalise such behaviour as they want to keep a roof over their family’s head, food on the table or the heating on. Some employees may also feel disgruntled with their treatment by their employer and feel they deserve more, so find ways to benefit financially, such as manipulating internal systems, theft of stock or working with organised crime gangs to divulge commercially sensitive commercial data or confidential customer information. It really drives home how organisations need to give the insider threat the attention and resource that it needs.

Tell me more about Cifas Insider Threat Week 2023

We have a whole week of activities aimed at helping organisations tackle the insider threat. Our existing Cifas members can benefit from a schedule of webinars each morning covering everything from the psychology of those who commit fraud, how pre-employment screening teams can identify when a candidate has used a Reference House, and why wellbeing should form part of your insider threat strategy. Non Cifas members can also attend sessions each afternoon which are aimed at talking about key areas where Cifas can help to fight the insider threat.

Who are the sessions aimed at and is there a charge?

Anybody who is responsible for keeping the organisation protected, so Fraud, Risk and Compliance Teams as well as HR professionals and People and Culture Teams. At Cifas we believe that collaboration is key to fighting fraud and that is also the same for collaboration within organisations – stakeholder engagement is key and sits across several areas of the business so I would recommend those interested in attending also tell their colleagues about the sessions!

There are no charges for these sessions.

Register here to attend this years Insider Threat Week.