As with all things security, a proactive approach to mitigate potential risk is critical — the same is true to manage insider risks. From inadvertent to malicious risk, an organization should take measures to safeguard itself from a person inside the organization harming that organization.

All individuals with access to or knowledge of an organization’s computers, networks, facilities, information, or personnel are potential insider threats, including vendors and contractors. The ability to intentionally use or accidentally misuse any of this information can breach confidentiality, reveal trade secrets, cause a data security incident, or harm an organization’s personnel, ultimately impacting its reputation and ability to do business.

As the former Chief Privacy Officer to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, I assessed the Department’s approach to insider threats, ensuring that the measures put into place effectively mitigated potential risk while safeguarding individuals’ privacy and civil liberties. The same considerations are at play in the private sector: effectively reducing potential threats to your organization and its people while facilitating your business and achieving your goals. In short, operationalizing your security.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to managing insider risk. Rather, each organization should define what insider risk looks like to it based on its unique approach to its facilities, personnel and data.

Considerations include all aspects of a business from the doorstep to its digital assets, physical security to cybersecurity. For instance, are you concerned about physical security and personnel safety, access to and misuse of sensitive information, like consumer financial information or trade secrets, or product design details?

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to managing insider risk. Rather, each organization should define what insider risk looks like to it based on its unique approach to its facilities, personnel, and data.

Organizations will also need to define relevant indicators for the risk they are seeking to mitigate. For example, personnel with significant financial challenges or individuals who access facilities outside of their established working hours, continuously express grievances about the organization, or send information outside of the organization’s network or use prohibited media.

Then, the organization should develop an insider risk management program. Again, the program will be unique to the organization’s size, budget, resources, risk tolerance, business goals, and culture. An insider risk program can range from policies and practices to automatic systems that assist with monitoring defined risks and unusual behaviors.

Some organizations may wish to create an insider risk management team to develop, implement, and regularly assess the organization’s program. Having the right people in the room when developing a program is key to ensure that efficiencies are not impacted and other critical business needs, such as information sharing activities or sharing large files with clients, are balanced against the risk you seek to mitigate and your approach to mitigation.

A key part of an insider risk mitigation program is to assess potential risk when it has been identified and how best to mitigate it. For instance, individuals facing significant stress or life changes may flag indicators related to your risk mitigation program, but not every person who experiences these challenges is an actual or likely risk to your organization. Or an individual who incorrectly responds to an organization’s own phishing email may undergo additional training to mitigate related risks. Further, in addition to any related potential legal risk or collective bargaining issues, an organization will also want to consider the potential impact on culture, employee trust, and retention.

While developing an insider risk management program can be an investment of time and resources on the front end, it can save your organization money, time, and reputational value when an insider threat comes to fruition. The goal is not necessarily a zero-risk framework but one from which an organization may quickly recover with limited resources and minimal damage.

Managing insider risk is an ongoing exercise to account for changes in your business model, evolving threats, lessons learned, and your customers’ expectations. In combination with an organization’s general privacy and security practices, an effective insider risk mitigation program can help an organization achieve its goals while building and maintaining trust with its employees and customers.