What is an internal security threat?

Many network administrators when asked about IT security think only of external threats like virus,hacking,spam, spyware etc., but there is much more to IT security than these visible threats.

Internal security threats are those which arise because of sources within the organization. It could be a disgruntled employee, ex-employees or contract workers, service providers who have/had access to your data. These people could carry your data out or could provide critical information to other hackers about the weakness in the security systems in place. This contributes to a major part of the IT crimes happening around the world.

The most common practice used in moving the data out of the organization is through e-mails. Employees having access to critical data might transfer them to your competitor easily by an e-mail. Other methods could be the use of USB thumb drives/ pen drives.

So how do you prevent them doing it?

• Restrict the use of pen drives in the office premises.

• Use mail scanning applications available to keep a track of the information sent/received.

• Remove the IDs used by the employees when they quit the organization.

• Restrict providing direct access to critical information to service providers, temporary staff, contract workers etc.

• Ensure that a thorough check up is done on the background of new employees recruited to work in data centers and server maintenance.

• Ensure passwords of employees are changed at regular intervals.
• Be cautious when giving access to outside sources to your network through remote login or remote desktop access.