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"The greatest information security threat is not from the professional social engineer, nor from the skilled computer intruder, but from someone much closer: the just-fired employee seeking revenge or hoping to set himself up in business using information stolen from the company."
Along with other cyberthreats, insider threats are one of the biggest dangers affecting enterprises today. Disgruntled employees, accidental data leaks, or compromised insiders can all cause serious harm, involving monetary losses, operational interruptions, and damage to one’s reputation.
According to the 2024 IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024[1], insider-related incidents cost USD 4.99M on average. Deception technology is an essential tool for insider threat defense because traditional security solutions struggle to identify and effectively neutralize insider threats.
Any risk posed to an organization by people who have authorized access to its networks, systems, or data but who, whether on purpose or accidentally, abuse this access to jeopardize security, disrupt operations, or steal confidential information is known as an insider threat. Because these threats come from trusted users who often have elevated permissions and in-depth knowledge of internal procedures and security restrictions, they are particularly considered dangerous. Risks posed by employees or contractors with authorized access are examples of potential insider threats.
Insider threats fall into three primary categories
For their own benefit, retaliation, or other malicious reasons, these people purposefully do harm to the organization. Disgruntled employees, contractors, or even executives who abuse their power may all be considered malicious insiders.
Common tactics used by malicious insiders include:
Example: Edward Snowden’s leaks of NSA documents illustrate the impact of malicious insiders.
Negligent insiders are staff members or third parties who unintentionally reveal sensitive data because of poor cybersecurity hygiene, ignorance, or disregard for security protocols. These incidents often result from:
Fact: As per Verizon’s 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report[2], human error accounts for 12% of insider threats.
External attackers can occasionally take over insiders’ accounts and turn them into unintentional threats by using malware or social engineering techniques. These people, in contrast to malicious insiders, have no ill intent, but their compromised accounts provide cybercriminals with entry points.
Common techniques used by attackers to compromise insiders include:
Stat: IBM’s 2024 Cost of Insider Threats Report found these incidents cost an average of $16.2 million per breach due to prolonged detection time.
Zero Trust is a security framework that assumes no user or device should be inherently trusted, even those within the network perimeter. To strengthen security against insider threats, organizations should adopt:
Applying Zero Trust minimizes unauthorized access and privilege misuse.
User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) is an important tool as it analyzes deviations from baseline behavior. Companies can enhance insider threat detection by monitoring:
Manually managing user permissions can lead to over privileged accounts that increase insider risk. To mitigate this, organizations should:
Automation reduces human error and limits unauthorized access.
A proactive cybersecurity plan must include cyber deception in order for enterprises to detect, delay, and divert insider threats. Deception solutions work by deploying:
Learn how Fidelis Deception® transforms cybersecurity with:
By misleading potential attackers, cyber deception technology buys valuable time for security teams to respond to insider threats before actual damage occurs. Fidelis Deception®, for example, automates terrain mapping and creates realistic deception layers that expose insider threats early in the attack cycle.
Deception technology is a proactive cybersecurity approach that deploys decoys within an organization’s network to deceive attackers posing internal threats. Unlike traditional security tools that focus only on preventive approach, deception technology anticipates breaches that might happen and actively engage attackers with fake assets so that it can detect and neutralize them before they cause any significant damage.
Decoys are fake but convincing assets that simulate valuable targets, such as:
Any interaction with a decoy signals potential malicious intent, allowing security teams to respond immediately.
Breadcrumbs are planted trails of false information designed to mislead attackers. These include:
By steering attackers toward controlled deception layers, breadcrumbs help security teams observe their tactics while preventing real damage.
Deception technology tracks how attackers move within a network after gaining access. It detects:
As insiders have legitimate credentials, lateral movement detection becomes necessary for identifying unauthorized activities before important assets are at risk.
By identifying only genuine threats, deception technology produces high-confidence alerts, in contrast to traditional security systems that produce an excessive number of false alarms. Because legitimate users have no reason to interact with deception assets, any engagement is a strong indicator of malicious intent.
Deception technology turns an organization’s IT environment into a hostile terrain for attackers by:
Organizations can lure malicious insiders, detect negligent behaviors, and prevent unauthorized access by deploying decoys, breadcrumbs, and deception layers. Distinguishing between normal behavior and potentially malicious activity is critical for security teams. Here’s how deception enhances insider threat mitigation:
Deception technology plants fake credentials, files, and systems that legitimate users have no reason to interact with. Any engagement with these deceptive assets is a strong indicator of malicious activity.
Malicious insiders often move laterally within networks to escalate privileges or access sensitive data. Deception technology disrupts this process by leading them into controlled environments where their activities can be monitored.
Unlike traditional security measures that rely on behavioral analytics alone, deception directly exposes malicious intent.
Deception technology doesn’t just detect threats—it collects valuable intelligence on attack patterns, helping security teams refine defenses.
Deception seamlessly integrates with SIEM, XDR, and UEBA platforms to provide a multi-layered defense.
In 2020, Twitter faced a high-profile insider attack when employees were manipulated into providing access to internal tools. Hackers used these privileges to gain access to internal tools and compromise verified accounts, including those of Elon Musk and Barack Obama. If deception technology had been in place, fake administrative credentials or decoy tools could have identified unauthorized access attempts early.
In 2020, Tesla detected an insider attempting to disrupt the company network. The insider, a dissatisfied employee, tried to steal sensitive information and change the manufacturing processes. Deception-based insider threat mitigation could have identified and prevented these detrimental actions sooner.
Master terrain-based cybersecurity to fortify your defenses:
Traditional security solutions like firewalls and endpoint detection systems are built to stop external attackers. However, insider threats operate within trusted access, making them harder to detect. Deception for insider threats works by:
Fidelis Deception® revolutionizes insider threat detection by deploying active deception layers across networks, endpoints, and cloud environments. Key benefits include:
In 2025, insider threats will still be on the rise and present serious concerns to businesses all over the world. Deception technology provides a strong, proactive defense against them. Organizations can uncover malicious insiders, minimize dwell time, and stop data loss before it occurs by incorporating this technology into their cybersecurity strategies.
The time to act is now—before an insider threat becomes your next major security incident.
See Fidelis in action. Learn how our fast and scalable platforms provide full visibility, deep insights, and rapid response to help security teams across the World protect, detect, respond, and neutralize advanced cyber adversaries.