The National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC) and the National Insider Threat Task Force (NITTF) have declared September 2020 as Insider Threat Month. Given the plethora of cases involving insiders of late, the timing is impeccable. For those responsible for handling insider threat programs within their entity, they may wish to point their constituents to the events being hosted this month by the NCSC, NITTF, DoD Undersecretary for Intelligence and Security, Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA), the FBI, and Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The goal?

The goal of focusing on insider threats this month is to sensitize employees and organizations on the overall threat and encourage employees to report anomalous behavior. Furthermore, it helps to ensure employees understand how their unintentional deviation from established processes and procedures designed to protect information may cause harm to their entity.

NCSC Director William Evanina shared his optic on the malevolent insider, “Most insider threats display concerning behaviors before engaging in negative events. Our objective is to help government and corporate organizations get ahead of the problem by bolstering their insider threat programs so they can detect, engage and assist at-risk employees before they go down the wrong path.

“COVID-19 has posed new challenges — with employees subject to new stresses and more of them working from home — and we’ve been working with partners to enhance their employee engagement,” said Evanina.

Insider Threat Awareness Is Required

Since the 2011 Executive Order all federal agencies with access to classified information are required to have their own insider threat detection and prevention programs.

As evidence of the insider threat, the NCSC offered up a selection of arrests and prosecutions involving insiders. Here are their generic descriptions; many of these have been detailed within ClearanceJobs:

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Christopher Burgess (@burgessct) is an author and speaker on the topic of security strategy. Christopher, served 30+ years within the Central Intelligence Agency. He lived and worked in South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Central Europe, and Latin America. Upon his retirement, the CIA awarded him the Career Distinguished Intelligence Medal, the highest level of career recognition. Christopher co-authored the book, “Secrets Stolen, Fortunes Lost, Preventing Intellectual Property Theft and Economic Espionage in the 21st Century” (Syngress, March 2008). He is the founder of securelytravel.com