IT Foundation Management: Combating the Insider Threat

The High Cost of Protecting Private Data

Security is arguably the biggest challenge for the IT department of any company.  The 451 Group estimates security costs currently represent 12 percent of the overall IT budget.  Data protection is of the utmost importance, especially to companies that handle private data in order to do business.  Failure to protect private data is a direct violation of compliance regulations and can result in hefty financial penalties.  The cost associated with recovery from data breeches continues to rise annually, with no indication of this trend reversing anytime in the near future.  

The Outsiders vs. The Insiders

In their efforts to protect private data, companies tend to focus on the outsiders, those that are intentionally trying to hack into corporate networks from somewhere in cyberspace for malicious reasons.  With the millions of dollars spent on security technology over the last decade, it would seem that security breeches would be few and far between.  But while the focus has been on threats from the outside, we have seen a rise in the number of threats emanating from trusted individuals within the organization.  These individuals have a certain level of security clearance, know your weaknesses and your strengths, and may or may not act intentionally.  This group of trusted individuals—IT staff, contractors, vendors, or anyone else with access to your IT infrastructure—is what the IT industry has labeled the insider threat.

Why All the Buzz About the Insider Threat?

The insider threat is quickly becoming one of the most talked about issues in IT industry publications, on information security blogs and in the conference rooms of many companies.  It is a significant issue because it renders many of the measures taken to protect networks from outsiders null and void.  While the insider threat is often considered to be nothing more than those unintentional breaches that are inevitable due to human error and infrequent, it is becoming more evident that many of the security breaches from insider threats are the result of intentional acts of malice.

Are You Sure You're Compliant?

Regardless of either the level of sophistication of these inside attacks, or the level of intent, there is an urgent need to implement new security parameters to protect the IT environment from such costly and damaging attacks.  Major compliance violations result in fines that continue to increase annually and can lead to large layoffs and damaged reputations.  It is even more difficult to repair the damage to the company’s integrity when a security breach comes from within.  Thus, it is imperative that companies make an investment in security technology that is proven to protect their networks from all threats, whether they come from outside or within the organization.

ITFM: The Only Defense You Need

Through its partnership with TDi Technologies, Pinnacle Systems Corporation offers a comprehensive solution, IT Foundation Management, that will combat the insider threat, in addition to the threats that come from outside of the organization. With TDi’s ITFM technology, the following is not only possible, it is guaranteed to offer more security and increase levels of compliance:

• A significant reduction in the time it takes to detect, diagnose and treat incidents
• Extend compliance practices to privileged access points in the IT infrastructure (the access points with the highest level of authority present the greatest opportunity to violate the intent of compliance regulation)
• Produces forensic evidence of all events and actions that are taken over these access points, enabling organizations to document and audit their conformance to compliance practices and regulations.
• Addresses security at all levels of IT infrastructure in a bottom-up approach that encompasses all possible modes of operation (This is a distinct departure from traditional security practices that are built from a top-down perspective with the assumption that security only applies to the IT infrastructure when that infrastructure is available on the production network.)

Pinnacle Systems Corporation is a licensed distributor of TDi Technologies Inc. products.