Tag

Insider Threats

Content tagged here examines threats originating from within an organization, including malicious employees, negligent staff, and compromised credentials. Topics cover behavioral indicators, monitoring tools, data loss prevention, insider threat programs, and organizational policies designed to detect and mitigate risks from trusted individuals.

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Insider Threats

Malicious Insider vs Negligent Insider: The Real Threat

One Employee Stole Data. The Other Just Clicked a Link. Both Cost Millions. In 2022, a former Amazon employee was convicted for her role in the Capital One breach that exposed over 100 million customer records. That same year, the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report found that 82% of breaches

Carl B. Johnson May 13, 2026 5 min read
Shadow IT Risks

Shadow IT Risks: The Threats Hiding in Your Network

In 2023, a midsize healthcare company discovered that an employee had been syncing patient records to a personal Dropbox account for over two years. No malicious intent — just convenience. The result was a HIPAA violation, a six-figure settlement, and a brutal lesson in shadow IT risks that the organization'

Carl B. Johnson May 04, 2026 5 min read
Shadow IT

What Is Shadow IT? The Hidden Risk Draining Your Security

Your Employees Are Building a Second Network You Can't See A marketing manager signs up for an AI writing tool using her corporate email. A developer spins up an AWS instance on a personal account to test code faster. A sales rep stores client contracts in a personal

Carl B. Johnson May 01, 2026 5 min read
Insider Threats

Insider Threat Examples: 7 Real Cases That Cost Millions

In 2022, a former employee of Cash App's parent company, Block Inc., downloaded reports containing the personal information of 8.2 million customers — months after being terminated. The company's failure to revoke access cost them regulatory scrutiny, a class-action lawsuit, and reputational damage that no PR

Carl B. Johnson Jun 12, 2025 7 min read
Insider Threats

How to Prevent Insider Threats: A Practical Guide

In May 2022, a Yahoo research scientist named Qian Sang downloaded roughly 570,000 pages of proprietary source code to his personal devices — minutes after receiving a job offer from a competitor. Yahoo's internal systems flagged it, but only after the data had already left. That incident is

Carl B. Johnson Jun 12, 2025 7 min read
Insider Threats

Malicious Insider vs Negligent Insider: Real Threats

One Clicked a Link. The Other Sold the Data. Both Cost Millions. In 2023, Tesla disclosed that two former employees had leaked the personal information of over 75,000 people — including Social Security numbers — to a foreign media outlet. That same year, the Verizon 2023 Data Breach Investigations Report confirmed

Carl B. Johnson Jun 12, 2025 7 min read
Clean Desk Policy

Clean Desk Policy Cybersecurity: Your Cheapest Defense

In 2023, a healthcare organization in the Midwest lost over 2,000 patient records — not because a hacker exploited a zero-day vulnerability, but because an employee left printed patient lists on their desk over the weekend. A cleaning contractor photographed them. That's it. No malware, no phishing email,

Carl B. Johnson Apr 20, 2025 7 min read
Insider Threats

How to Prevent Insider Threats: A Practical Guide

In January 2023, a former Tesla employee leaked the personal information of over 75,000 people — names, Social Security numbers, financial records — to a foreign news outlet. Tesla confirmed the breach wasn't caused by a sophisticated threat actor or a zero-day exploit. It was an insider. If you&

Carl B. Johnson Dec 09, 2023 7 min read