Why insider threat is one of the biggest challenges in cloud security — and how Nightfall DLP can help

Most people perceive the biggest threats to an organization as coming from external forces. The truth is that insider threat is just as serious and costly as an external bad actor trying to break into your systems. Insider threat is often harder to handle, because it’s an insidious attack on your security infrastructure. According to Help Net Security, negligence is the most common cause of insider threats, and these incidents cost organizations an average of $4.58 million per year. The main cause of insider threat data leaks is poor security hygiene — whether it’s ignorance of security policies or users who bend or break the rules to get work done faster or get around protocols. Data loss prevention (DLP) is one way security leaders can reclaim their power and maintain better security in the cloud.

What is insider threat?

Insider threat is any action from an employee or other internal resource that compromises the security of an organization’s cloud systems. This includes contractors and others with access or otherwise authorized to use your org’s apps, platforms, databases, and more. As mentioned above, insider threat can be intentional or accidental, but the end result is still the same. Any time an authorized user leaves a token in a code repo or improperly shares a confidential piece of data in a SaaS app, it’s a threat to the security of your entire cloud infrastructure. 

How does Data Loss Prevention prevent insider threat?

Data exposure from insider activity can occur in any SaaS or IaaS system. Leaving API keys in a public code repo is an easy way to invite a security breach. Users can become more lax on following security protocols over time — especially as the workforce settles into remote work as the Coronavirus pandemic drags on. Think of it this way: your cloud networks might be facing a few hackers every day, but each employee can be a data loss vector if your organization lacks proper security protocols. DLP can take on this constant threat from inside actors through automated scans of your cloud platforms to search for data leaks before they happen.

How does Nightfall help prevent insider threat?

Nightfall is a cloud-native DLP platform that detects and classifies sensitive data and allows you to set custom actions to prevent the data from leaking outside the org or from unauthorized sharing within your cloud environment. You can delete messages that contain data that could lead to a data breach, such as API keys and other credentials, personally identifiable information (PII) like credit card numbers, or protected health information (PHI) like medical record numbers. Set up automatic notifications to let users know when they share data in unsafe ways across your cloud applications. Nightfall’s customizable features give you more power to prevent insider threat attacks than ever before.

What does Nightfall detect to prevent insider threat?

With over 100+ detectors, Nightfall can be fully customized to scan your SaaS and IaaS environments to search for business-critical data that is at risk of loss. Protect access to code repos by scanning GitHub for private keys, or prevent PII like Social Security Numbers from being shared in Slack channels. You can set up granular rules with our policy engine, and you can also use our developer platform to set up custom scans for any cloud SaaS or IaaS platform. Any piece of data that needs protecting is covered with Nightfall.

How do I learn more about Nightfall and preventing insider threat?

The Nightfall blog contains news and information about cloud security, DLP, and Nightfall products to help infosec leaders level up their orgs’ security posture. Find more information about Nightfall and how your org can use DLP to prevent insider threats in these posts from our blog:

• Learn more about where insider threats can originate within your organization, and how to take steps to remediate the problem: https://nightfall.ai/resources/insider-threats-cybersecurity-threat-landscape-2020/
• See how the pandemic is putting added strain on cloud security resources across all industries: https://nightfall.ai/resources/covid-cloud-security/
• Read about the challenges that financial services companies face when protecting PII from leaks and insider threats, and how DLP can help: https://nightfall.ai/resources/fintech-dlp/