In-House Articles

How HR Can Safeguard Against Insider Cyber Threats

Learn how HR can play a crucial role in safeguarding against insider cyber threats.

October 14, 2024

1. The HR-Cybersecurity Intersection: Mitigating Internal Threats
1.1 Continuous Training and Awareness
1.2 Access Management and Privilege Control
1.3 Monitoring Employee Behavior
1.4 Offboarding and Data Protection
2. Enhancing Data Protection: A Proactive HR-Driven Approach
Looking Ahead: HR’s Strategic Role in Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity has rapidly evolved from the realm of information technology into a corporate agenda priority for contemporary organizations in various industries. The increase in cyber threats and the changes in data protection laws emphasized the need for an integrated approach to cybersecurity. In the context of the year 2024 and beyond, Human Resources (HR) will be a significant factor for organizations as they help to minimize internal threats and refine the security of data.

Research carried out by IBM in 2023 on the cost of a data breach revealed that 18% of data breaches were caused by insiders costing an average of 4.9 million dollars. This figure illustrates internal threats as a significant threat to the organization due to the possibility of having the intention of causing harm or even through incompetence. The insider threats can be a result of dissatisfaction of some employees, contractors, or individuals with poor understanding or compliance with the cybersecurity policies.

Thus, HR holds a significant responsibility in the management of these risks. Historically, HR has focused on recruitment, onboarding, and training, but now it must also guarantee employee compliance with cybersecurity standards. Serving as the culture custodians of their individual organizations, the Human Resources department is unquestionably in a strategic place of making positive alterations in favor of a more security-aware workforce that could ultimately lower threats.

1. The HR-Cybersecurity Intersection: Mitigating Internal Threats

Hiring and Onboarding Practices: It is important to begin a process of addressing internal threats at the time of recruitment. HR needs to engage IT and cybersecurity to ensure the adoption of strict background checks that should be aimed at involving people who are to be entrusted with an organization’s sensitive data. Also, as part of organizational introductory training, employees should go through cybersecurity awareness training that includes information about phishing, ransomware, and insider threats.

1.1 Continuous Training and Awareness

Organization’s HR departments can effectively minimize accidental inside threats through constant training on cybersecurity. It also involves such basic requirements as attending training sessions on DP policies, understanding cyber risks, and notifying about observed threats. For the year 2024, the trend is that many companies are expected to adopt AI content learning solutions that offer adaptive, profession-based cybersecurity tutorials to enhance knowledge and performance possession.

1.2 Access Management and Privilege Control

The process of management and control is also a part of the responsibilities of the HR department, where access rights are specified depending on the position and rank of the employee. Strict access control where employees have only the level of access that is required for efficient performance of their duties is also effective in preventing unauthorized access to data. In a growing hybrid workplace, it is crucial to securely manage access for remotely located occupants through MFA and zero-trust security. In this way, IT helps HR to timely make changes regarding the access permissions of employees who switched to other positions or left the company.

1.3 Monitoring Employee Behavior

It is HR, together with IT, that can introduce monitoring programs that would help in identifying increased levels of activity that would represent potential insider threats. Several contemporary approaches based on machine learning and artificial intelligence can identify suspicious activities, such as login from regions that are not familiar or effort to access forbidden information. Although monitoring should be done in a proper and legal manner, it is useful in mitigating both insider threats and negligence cases.

1.4 Offboarding and Data Protection

The application of organization exit policies is one more aspect that is not typically associated with cybersecurity. It is also recommended that HR collaborate with IT so that any employee who quits or is terminated gets blocked from the firm’s networks within the shortest time possible. Other areas that should be covered in exit interviews are treatment of returning company property, wiping of company data on personal devices, and recall of digital access rights.

2. Enhancing Data Protection: A Proactive HR-Driven Approach

It requires that as these regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) continue to shape themselves up, organizations are also in a position to adapt. It also enables the HR departments to engage in active promotion of compliance and the consequences of violations among the employee populace.
It will be possible to intensify cooperation between HR and IT departments in the near future to actively implement solutions that can help initiate appropriate actions in the event of identified data protection risks. For example, data loss prevention (DLP) software can be implemented internally to identify potential data breaches that may occur in the future.

Lastly, HR has a significant responsibility of raising awareness of privacy throughout the organization. It is imperative that employees are informed of the management’s willingness to protect organizational data and that everyone should be responsible for information protection.