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Beyond Hackers: The Inside Cybersecurity Threat To Businesses

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  Published in Business and Finance on Thursday, November 6th 2025 at 7:51 GMT by Forbes
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Beyond Hackers: Uncovering the Inside Cybersecurity Threat to Businesses

In the latest Forbes Business Council feature, cybersecurity veteran Laura M. Thompson lays bare a growing menace that has outpaced the headline-grabbing hacks we see in the media: the inside threat. Published on November 6, 2025, the article argues that while external attacks are increasingly sophisticated, they are no longer the primary danger to most organizations. Instead, employees, contractors, and partners wielding legitimate access represent the biggest breach risk, with the potential to inflict damage that is often harder to detect, harder to mitigate, and harder to quantify.

The Anatomy of an Insider Threat

Thompson begins by distinguishing between the two primary insider threat categories:

Statistically, the article cites that nearly 60 % of data breaches involve insider actions—malicious or otherwise—according to the 2025 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report. Moreover, in 78 % of those incidents, the insider had privileged or administrative access, making prevention a matter of restricting and monitoring elevated rights rather than simply patching external vulnerabilities.

Real‑World Illustrations

The piece draws heavily from recent case studies that illustrate the severity of insider threats:

1. The Unraveling of a Fortune‑500 Retail Giant – An engineer with long‑term access to the company’s order‑processing database bypassed the new multi‑factor authentication rollout, exfiltrating sensitive customer data over a span of weeks before internal logs flagged anomalous export patterns.

2. The Small‑Business Vendor Breach – A third‑party logistics provider inadvertently introduced a malicious macro via an email attachment, enabling a ransomware payload to traverse the supply‑chain network and halt operations for 72 hours.

3. The Phishing‑Triggered Insider Compromise – An HR manager, targeted with a sophisticated spear‑phishing email that masqueraded as an internal HR portal, provided credentials that allowed attackers to elevate privileges and compromise the entire corporate VPN.

These stories underscore that insider threats are not confined to tech giants; even small and mid‑size businesses are increasingly in the crosshairs, especially those whose operational infrastructure is interwoven with external vendors.

Detecting the Invisible

One of Thompson’s key arguments is that detection requires a shift from a reactive stance—waiting for a breach to be discovered—to a proactive, behavior‑based approach. She recommends deploying:

• User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) – Software that learns baseline user behavior and flags deviations, such as an employee accessing data outside their usual hours or from an unusual location.
• Privileged Access Management (PAM) – Solutions that enforce least privilege, session recording, and automated de‑provisioning.
• Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Policies – Real‑time monitoring of data movement to and from corporate endpoints, including cloud storage.
• Zero Trust Architecture – A framework that assumes no user or device is inherently trustworthy, validating each access request through continuous verification.

Thompson points to a recent Forbes article (https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2025/07/18/the-zero-trust-revolution/) that outlines the practical steps to build a Zero Trust model, from micro‑segmentation to continuous authentication. The article emphasizes that a robust Zero Trust strategy reduces the attack surface and limits the damage that a compromised insider can inflict.

Mitigation and Culture

Beyond technology, the article stresses the human element—culture and training—as the linchpin of insider threat management. Thompson highlights the following tactics:

1. Mandatory, Role‑Specific Security Awareness – Regular, tailored phishing simulations and security briefings that address the particular risks of each department.
2. Psychological Screening in Hiring – Integrating personality and behavioral assessments into recruitment to identify red flags before access is granted.
3. Clear Exit Procedures – Ensuring that access is revoked promptly upon departure, with audit logs confirming the revocation.
4. Incentivizing Reporting – Establishing an anonymous reporting mechanism that encourages employees to flag suspicious activity without fear of retaliation.

In addition to these measures, Thompson urges businesses to invest in continuous monitoring and rapid response teams that can investigate anomalous activity in real time and isolate compromised systems before data loss occurs.

The Cost of Neglect

The article presents a sobering financial analysis: the average cost of an insider‑related breach in 2025 was $12.3 million, a 12 % increase from the previous year. This figure includes direct damages (data loss, ransomware payouts), indirect costs (legal fees, regulatory fines, reputational repair), and opportunity costs (lost productivity, market share erosion). The cost is particularly stark for regulated industries—finance, healthcare, and critical infrastructure—where penalties for non‑compliance can eclipse the breach cost itself.

A Call to Action

Thompson concludes with a rallying cry: “The threat is no longer outside; it is within.” She urges business leaders to:

• Audit all user access rights and enforce least privilege.
• Deploy UEBA and PAM solutions to monitor for deviations.
• Embed a Zero Trust philosophy across the organization.
• Educate employees continuously, making security an everyday priority.
• Review exit protocols to ensure immediate revocation of all access.

The Forbes Business Council piece not only exposes the hidden danger lurking in the workplace but also provides a comprehensive playbook to confront it head‑on. By treating insider threats with the same vigor as external cyberattacks, organizations can safeguard their assets, protect customer trust, and secure their long‑term viability.