---
title: Only 1/3 of Fortune 1000 companies have an insider threat program
description: Insider threat programs inside organisations are becoming increasingly important. This issue may not yet have the attention it deserves...
---

[IT Security & High Risk Users Management Blog | WALLIX](https://blog.wallix.com)

# [Only 1/3 of Fortune 1000 companies have an insider threat program](https://blog.wallix.com/only-one-third-of-fortune-1000-companies-have-an-insider-threat-program-or-policy)

 Written by [WALLIX](https://blog.wallix.com/author/wallix) | Jan 14, 2016 4:13:41 PM

A survey of chief information officers at Fortune 1000 companies by security and information management firm [Nuix](http://www.nuix.com/analyst-briefs/defending-data-report-2015) has found that whilst insider threat programs inside organisations are becoming increasingly important in combatting today’s cyber threats, this issue may not yet have the attention it deserves.

# Why your company needs an insider threat policy

Given the high profile nature of these businesses, it’s surprising that 30% of respondents reported having no kind of insider threat program or policy. However, 21% attributed some of their security team’s spending increases to additional protections against internal hazards and 14% reported allotting 40% or more of their budget to [insider threats](https://blog.wallix.com/the-biggest-insider-threat-you-face-isnt-a-person).

## What is an insider threat?

Also highlighted in this report was **the challenge of knowing what an insider threat is in the first place**. Although, when asked to define the term  there was a clear theme among the responses, featuring the words “malicious,” “internal,” “authorized,” and “inappropriate.” One financial institution CISO noted: *“All threats are insider threats; once a hacker enters the company’s environment, it becomes an insider threat.”* *“Not all insider threats are mischievous,”* countered another financial institution CISO. Those nuances characterized many of the other explanations, which varied to include the following simple and complex descriptions:

- A malicious actor who is an internal employee.
- People with access to data trying to sneak it out the door.
- An internal employee who knowingly or unknowingly grants unauthorised access to someone.
- An outside entity trying to get in by taking advantage through social engineering or a relationship to access internal data.
- Any user activity that falls outside of the organisation’s policy.
- A person who is affiliated with the organisation and through negligence or malice puts the organisation at risk.
- The usage of inside systems by authorized and unauthorised individuals in a seemingly nefarious way.
- Someone with knowledge of the system who uses that knowledge to create or exploit a weakness.

 

## A growing phenomenom in IT security

One insurance executive explained that individuals interpreted “insider threats” according to their roles in the organization. *“If you speak with individuals in physical security, it could be a disgruntled employee with a weapon,”* he said. “*For those in finance, it could be an employee with high-level credentials secretly moving money or accessing intellectual property to endanger the company’s competitive landscape".*

There’s certainly greater awareness of insider threats thanks to the public profiles of [Chelsea Manning](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Manning) and [Edward Snowden](https://blog.wallix.com/could-you-have-spotted-snowden) and it’s also much easier to steal information than ever, you can just copy key files onto a thumb drive in seconds. And finally, is there the possibility that the theft of internal records has become culturally more acceptable?

WALLIX offers solutions that **give privileged users in your organization secure access** to servers and devices, and gives you complete visibility and auditing of their actions, helping you to meet compliance requirements and keep data secure.

 

[View full post](https://blog.wallix.com/only-one-third-of-fortune-1000-companies-have-an-insider-threat-program-or-policy)

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