The Insider Threat To Homeland Security

An adversary who attacks an organization from within can prove fatal to the organization and is generally impervious to conventional defenses. Drawn from the findings of an award-winning thesis, Managing the Insider Threat: No Dark Corners is the first comprehensive resource to use social science research to explain why traditional methods fail aga

"This compendium of research on insider threats is essential reading for all personnel with accountabilities for security; it shows graphically the extent and persistence of the threat that all organizations face and against which they must take preventive measures." — Roger Howsley, Executive Director, World Institute for Nuclear Security High-security organizations around the world face devastating threats from insiders—trusted employees with access to sensitive information, facilities, and materials. From Edward Snowden to the Fort Hood shooter to the theft of nuclear materials, the threat from insiders is on the front page and at the top of the policy agenda. Insider Threats offers detailed case studies of insider disasters across a range of different types of institutions, from biological research laboratories, to nuclear power plants, to the U.S. Army. Matthew Bunn and Scott D. Sagan outline cognitive and organizational biases that lead organizations to downplay the insider threat, and they synthesize "worst practices" from these past mistakes, offering lessons that will be valuable for any organization with high security and a lot to lose. Insider threats pose dangers to anyone who handles information that is secret or proprietary, material that is highly valuable or hazardous, people who must be protected, or facilities that might be sabotaged. This is the first book to offer in-depth case studies across a range of industries and contexts, allowing entities such as nuclear facilities and casinos to learn from each other. It also offers an unprecedented analysis of terrorist thinking about using insiders to get fissile material or sabotage nuclear facilities. Contributors: Matthew Bunn, Harvard University; Andreas Hoelstad Dæhli, Oslo; Kathryn M. Glynn, IBM Global Business Services; Thomas Hegghammer, Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, Oslo; Austin Long, Columbia University; Scott D. Sagan, Stanford University; Ronald Schouten, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School; Jessica Stern, Harvard University; Amy B. Zegart, Stanford University

This book provides emergent knowledge relating to physical, cyber, and human risk mitigation in a practical and readable approach for the corporate environment. It presents and discusses practical applications of risk management techniques along with useable practical policy change options. This practical organizational security management approach examines multiple aspects of security to protect against physical, cyber, and human risk. A practical more tactical focus includes managing vulnerabilities and applying countermeasures. The book guides readers to a greater depth of understanding and action-oriented options.

In Stand on Guard, Stephanie Carvin sets out to explain the range of activities considered national security threats by Canadian security services today. As new forms of terrorism and extremism appear, especially online, we need a responsibly widened view of such threats and how they manifest in the contemporary world. Canadians should not be more fearful, Carvin explains, but a more sophisticated understanding among security services personnel and the general public is needed if we are to anticipate and ameliorate threats to national security. As a former security analyst tasked with providing threat assessments to high levels of government, Carvin writes with both authority and urgency. Her book presents an insider’s look at the issues facing the Canadian security and intelligence community. Timely and accessible, Stand on Guard will be required reading for scholars, practitioners, and any Canadian concerned about national security in the twenty-first century.

Since 9/11, the terms homeland security and terrorism have become firmly entrenched in our lexicon. The days of walking through a simple metal detector at the airport are over, and our security landscape is forever changed. Terrorism and Homeland Security: Perspectives, Thoughts, and Opinions brings together the work of academic researchers and law

Managing the Insider Threat: No Dark Corners and the Rising Tide Menace, Second Edition follows up on the success of - and insight provided by - the first edition, reframing the insider threat by distinguishing between sudden impact and slow onset (aka "rising tide") insider attacks. This edition is fully updated with coverage from the previous edition having undergone extensive review and revision, including updating citations and publications that have been published in the last decade. Three new chapters drill down into the advanced exploration of rising tide threats, examining the nuanced complexities and presenting new tools such as the loyalty ledger (Chapter 10) and intensity scale (Chapter 11). New explorations of ambiguous situations and options for thwarting hostile insiders touch on examples that call for tolerance, friction, or radical turnaround (Chapter 11). Additionally, a more oblique discussion (Chapter 12) explores alternatives for bolstering organizational resilience in circumstances where internal threats show signs of gaining ascendancy over external ones, hence a need for defenders to promote clearer thinking as a means of enhancing resilience against hostile insiders. Coverage goes on to identify counters to such pitfalls, called lifelines, providing examples of questions rephrased to encourage clear thinking and reasoned debate without inviting emotional speech that derails both. The goal is to redirect hostile insiders, thereby offering alternatives to bolstering organizational resilience - particularly in circumstances where internal threats show signs of gaining ascendancy over external ones, hence a need for defenders to promote clearer thinking as a means of enhancing resilience against hostile insiders. Defenders of institutions and observers of human rascality will find, in Managing the Insider Threat, Second Edition, new tools and applications for the No Dark Corners approach to countering a vexing predicament that seems to be increasing in frequency, scope, and menace.

Since 2001, the CERT® Insider Threat Center at Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute (SEI) has collected and analyzed information about more than seven hundred insider cyber crimes, ranging from national security espionage to theft of trade secrets. The CERT® Guide to Insider Threats describes CERT’s findings in practical terms, offering specific guidance and countermeasures that can be immediately applied by executives, managers, security officers, and operational staff within any private, government, or military organization. The authors systematically address attacks by all types of malicious insiders, including current and former employees, contractors, business partners, outsourcers, and even cloud-computing vendors. They cover all major types of insider cyber crime: IT sabotage, intellectual property theft, and fraud. For each, they present a crime profile describing how the crime tends to evolve over time, as well as motivations, attack methods, organizational issues, and precursor warnings that could have helped the organization prevent the incident or detect it earlier. Beyond identifying crucial patterns of suspicious behavior, the authors present concrete defensive measures for protecting both systems and data. This book also conveys the big picture of the insider threat problem over time: the complex interactions and unintended consequences of existing policies, practices, technology, insider mindsets, and organizational culture. Most important, it offers actionable recommendations for the entire organization, from executive management and board members to IT, data owners, HR, and legal departments. With this book, you will find out how to Identify hidden signs of insider IT sabotage, theft of sensitive information, and fraud Recognize insider threats throughout the software development life cycle Use advanced threat controls to resist attacks by both technical and nontechnical insiders Increase the effectiveness of existing technical security tools by enhancing rules, configurations, and associated business processes Prepare for unusual insider attacks, including attacks linked to organized crime or the Internet underground By implementing this book’s security practices, you will be incorporating protection mechanisms designed to resist the vast majority of malicious insider attacks.