A1 - Cyber Security Threats (Internal)

Question 1

What is an Internal threat

Answer 1

➡ An internal threat refers to the risk of somebody from the inside of a company who could exploit a system in a way to cause damage or steal data

➡These kinds of threats are particularly troubling, as employees are expected to be trusted individuals that are granted extended privileges, which can easily be abused.

Question 2

Employee Sabotage and Theft of Data and/or Physical Equipment

Answer 2

➡ Employees have the privilege of accessing a wide range of physical equipment inside of a company, with only trust to prevent them from damaging or stealing it. This means that hardware like hard drives, containing lots of important data, can be physically stolen from the company; otherwise, the data on it can be transferred to a USB flash drive and then revealed and duplicated online.

Question 3

Unauthorized Access by Employees

Answer 3

➡ As employees already have access to a system within a company, they may be able to obtain access to areas of these computers they shouldn’t and steal data

➡ They may also sometimes have, or maliciously obtain, administrative privileges that allow them to perform further administrative functions:

• changing access rights of other users
• deactivating network security tools

Question 4

Accidental Loss or Disclosure of Data

Answer 4

➡ the same security vulnerabilities that allow malicious behaviour may also permit simple accidents to occur and cause a lot of damage, such as:

• An employee may carry their laptop to and from work. When doing so, they may forget it on the train back home one day – this means that anybody that gets a hold of the laptop may have access to all the information stored on there, potentially exposing important data.
• An employee could spill a drink on a hardware device.

Question 5

Accidental Loss or Disclosure of Data (2)

Answer 5

➡ Some of these accidents can be a result of:

• The limited time invested into properly training and monitoring staff
• Educating staff on how to keep their devices secure
• Acceptable use of the businesses IT systems, which will prevent a wide range of threats.

➡ Furthermore, we can ensure poor practices are not being followed and can identify where the damage occurred through monitoring:

• Such as with keyloggers
• Access logs
• Remote monitoring software,