Cybersecurity is now a central focus of security executives in virtually every market and has become a top priority in healthcare, finance, manufacturing, and government agencies. Safeguarding access to confidential information and valuable data requires vigilant maintenance of a layered cyber-threat program to keep intellectual property, customer account information, and other cloud-stored assets safe from outside infiltration.
The security leaders within these organizations understand that their focus on protection must not only guard against external threats. An effective security program demands full attention to insider threats from within their own workforce. Insiders present a more immediate risk of data compromise, corruption of sensitive files, theft of proprietary information, and even workplace violence than external adversaries.
Maintaining Insider Integrity
Complex information systems are a necessary element in the operation of any business. Keeping those systems functioning efficiently and without interruption means employing teams of IT specialists with expansive access to software programs and hardware. Company personnel throughout the organization must also possess varying degrees of access to more sensitive data in order to perform their job-related duties every day.
Prehire employee background screening is a basic first step in protecting an organization from inviting untrustworthy people or those with potentially dangerous character traits into a company’s workforce. But every employee’s life is a dynamic set of changing experiences introducing new pressures and vulnerabilities. Any member of a large organization’s staff can become an evolving threat over time.
The potential development of insider threats to system integrity requires a multilayered insider threat program covering both technical system barriers as well as a continuous human screening program that monitors the occurrence of concerning behavior by employees. PostHire uses a sophisticated proprietary national data collection protocol to provide near-real-time notification when any employee is arrested and charged with a criminal offense anywhere in the country.
Signs of Evolving Insider Threats
Cyber threats posed by company insiders rarely develop in a vacuum. Instead, formerly trusted employees may evolve over time in response to financial pressure, addiction, personal relationship crises, mental illness, or other life circumstances. The development of personal vulnerabilities erodes the boundaries these workers faithfully observed for years. Involvement in other rule-breaking behavior often precedes conduct that threatens the security of company assets or even the safety of other employees.
Uncharacteristic involvement in the criminal justice system is a potent warning of a worker in crisis. When an organization’s team member is discovered driving under the influence, possessing illegal drugs, shoplifting, passing a bad check, or assaulting a family member, company security officials should be informed of the case details from official court filings and police reports. Any responsive action the company takes would be determined by its own personnel policies and guidelines. Whether no action is taken, supportive counseling is offered, or adverse employment action is implemented, the organization’s security apparatus deserves to remain informed throughout the judicial process until the case is resolved.
Importance of Continuous Screening
A continuous screening program is crucial to the effectiveness of any insider threat mitigation program. Only through continuous screening can an organization’s security system ensure that problematic criminal events in the lives of its workers are detected in time to forestall potential negative developments within the organization. Occasional monitoring is insufficient to identify evolving internal risks. While a comprehensive, accurate, and swift continuous personnel screening program is only one part of an effective insider threat mitigation program, an advanced continuous worker screening process is an essential component of a multilayered cybersecurity protection plan.
PostHire’s wider national coverage and uniquely reliable information sourcing system has demonstrated its superiority in numerous case studies. In a recent study validated by the Security Executive Council, PostHire’s screening system identified 700 previously undisclosed criminal events occurring in the workforce of a national security firm employing 50,000 workers. The company’s legacy screening provider failed to detect any of those events, including 81 felonies and other crimes involving fraud, weapons, domestic violence, drugs, violence against children, and theft.
Identify Cyber Risks from All Quarters
The mission of senior cybersecurity management officials includes taking effective measures to detect, disrupt, and dismantle existing and evolving threats to their organization’s valuable information assets and human resources. PostHire offers the most accurate, comprehensive, and reliable continuous personnel screening service available in the security market.
For a fully customized screening program designed to meet your company’s growing need, contact PostHire today.
