The National Insider Threat Awareness Month (NITAM) is being celebrated this September 2020 for the second year. All through the month, resources will be offered to focus on the benefits of uncovering, removing, and reporting insider threats.
NITAM is a collaborative effort between a few U.S. government organizations which include the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense Intelligence and Security (USD(I&S)), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC), National Insider Threat Task Force (NITTF), and the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA). In 2019, NITAM was developed to improve understanding of the risks brought about by insiders and to propel companies to act and deal with those risks.
Security teams typically concentrate on securing their systems, records, and resources from external threat actors and hackers, yet it is furthermore essential to safeguard against insider threats. An insider is someone in a company who has been provided access to hardware, applications, data, or information about an institution. Insiders comprise of current and previous staff, contractors, interns, and other people who were granted access to data files or systems. Those trusted insiders can inadvertently or purposely take actions that are bad to the organization. Those actions may bring about problems to firm amenities, systems, or machines, result in financial damage, or disclose intellectual property and sensitive data.
To beat insider threats, businesses should set up an insider threat mitigation system to identify, stop, and respond to threats by malicious and unintentional insiders. The program must secure essential assets against unapproved access and malicious activities, and the employees must be trained to discern insider threats and file reports on any dubious behavior or actions. The program needs to also entail the collection and examination of details to help distinguish and abate insider threats promptly.
The SARS-CoV-2 crisis has created a different set of difficulties. The adjustments made by businesses because of the pandemic, for example, the growth of remote working to consist of the total workforce, have amplified the danger of espionage, unapproved disclosures, scams, and data theft. It is more critical than ever for companies to have a powerful insider threat mitigation process.
The major objective of NITAM 2020 is strengthening toughness against insider threats. This may be attained by maximizing awareness via training of the personnel, employing the resources offered in September to understand how to recognize and offset the tactics of insider threats, and to boost defense against those risks.
The DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is serving to elevate knowledge about insider threats and has released resources that healthcare organizations could use to boost organizational strength and abate risks presented by insider threats. There are graphics, games posters, case studies, and videos to promote NITAM on this page.
