Firewalls, encryption, and multifactor authentication provide strong defenses against cybercriminals. But what if bad actors could bypass all those protections in seconds? That scenario is exactly what makes insider threats so dangerous, and it’s already happening. Every organization needs to learn how to recognize the various types of insider threats.
What Is an Insider Threat?
In broad terms, an insider threat involves any internal risk to your cybersecurity, network, operations, infrastructure, or data. An insider is anyone who has legitimate access to your network, such as employees or supply chain partners.
With authentic credentials, these individuals can exploit vulnerabilities that are normally out of reach to cybercriminals outside the network. The impact of data breaches can be larger and more serious with long-term internal access.
What Types of Insider Threats Should You Prepare For?
In 2024, four out of five organizations experienced some type of insider threat. These range from accidental to intentional, but the risks are the same.
1. Unaware Threats
Employees can put your network at risk without realizing it. If a worker falls for a phishing email, cybercriminals can steal their credentials. According to the 2025 IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average time to detect a data breach is 241 days. Compromised employees can stay completely unaware for eight months or more.
2. Accidental Threats
Errors are responsible for more security compromises than many organizations think. The 2024 Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report found that nearly 70% of breaches involve the human element, and over 25% are caused by errors. Mistakes can include forgetting to update software or using unsafe app configurations.
3. Negligent Threats
Negligent insiders are careless, shameless, or arrogant. They don’t take cybersecurity risks seriously. Insider threat examples involving negligence include:
- Visiting websites that are known to be dangerous
- Installing apps on a personal device despite company prohibitions
- Downloading suspicious files out of curiosity
- Carelessly modifying code, especially without safety reviews
- Sharing credentials with coworkers
- Keeping IDs/passwords in plain view on a desk
The massive 2024 CrowdStrike failure happened because a botched update was developed and pushed live without adequate review.
4. Third-Party Threats
Enterprises may have dozens of third-party vendors, from Microsoft 365 and Amazon Web Services to cybersecurity services and IT maintenance companies. For apps and cloud services to work, they have to bypass your firewall, which makes them potential insider threats.
5. Intentional Threats
Some employees deliberately steal data from your organization. Unscrupulous individuals may try to access credit card information. In healthcare, personnel may try to access patient charts they’re not authorized to see.
6. Malicious Threats
Malicious insiders don’t just want to steal from you. They want to harm or punish your organization, often with sabotage, exposure of sensitive documents, or system collapse. Deliberately installing ransomware or malware is an example of malicious insider threats.
7. Hybrid Threats
Some insiders cooperate with bad actors outside your organization. This two-pronged approach is especially dangerous, giving experienced cybercriminals unfettered access to your organization’s network, email, and applications. From there, they can launch phishing or whaling attacks that are harder to predict.
8. Organized Threats
Insider threats can also involve groups of employees. When several workers cooperate to steal money, data, or company secrets, common insider threat indicators are harder to notice. Individuals with admin access may try to delete logs or evidence.
Who Are Insider Threats?
The first group of insider threats that probably comes to mind is disgruntled employees. Workers who are bitter about being fired may try to retaliate through theft or damage, also called “revenge quitting.” But the complete list of insider threats is much larger.
9. Former Workers
Even employees who left on good terms can be insider threats if they took — intentionally or accidentally — customer lists, banking details, or sensitive records. Even seemingly “harmless” work emails can leak legitimate email addresses, phone numbers, and full names of ex-coworkers, system admins, clients, suppliers, and other contacts. And if your IT department forgets to disable the worker’s access card, user account, or password, the person can continue logging into your system for months or years.
10. Current Employees
Employees who have poor cybersecurity awareness or a careless approach to account safety can put entire networks at risk. The recent Ascension Healthcare data breach that impacted more than 5.5 million records started because a single worker downloaded a file containing malware.
11. Executives
CEOs, CFOs, CTOs, and other executives are priority targets for cyberattackers. Leadership tends to have broader access permissions, including connections to finances, legal documents, and sensitive records. After obtaining C-suite credentials, criminals impersonate the executive to get access to funds, data, or admin controls.
12. IT Personnel
Network technicians aren’t immune to phishing attacks, threats, or bribes. There have been cases where cyberattackers simply buy user IDs and login credentials from IT workers.
The risk is greater if your organization employs support staff from countries with dire economic conditions. Even $5,000 can be an enormous sum in some regions.
IT workers can also be behind malicious threats. With their specialized knowledge and access, some have downloaded payment card data to use for identity theft and fraud.
13. Auditors, Contractors, and Consultants
External auditors are a normal part of business, and these professionals are generally trustworthy. The real threat comes when your organization forgets to disable the auditor’s account afterward.
Because of the high level of access required for assessments, auditor accounts are a major danger in the event of a breach. Hackers can use them to elevate their access permissions and spread through the network quickly.
How Can You Strengthen Your Defenses Against Different Types of Insider Threats?
Being realistic, there is no walled-garden approach that works 100% of the time against all types of insider threats. There are simply too many attack surfaces to cover 24/7 when you have thousands of employees.
Modern enterprise cybersecurity relies on cyber resilience, risk management, continuous monitoring, and Zero Trust infrastructure. The goal becomes to limit the ability of insiders to cause broad harm to your operations or assets.
Compyl can help you implement a robust framework for risk mitigation and cybersecurity. With in-depth compliance tracking, AI-powered insights, and real-time analytics, Compyl is the risk management solution that adapts to your organization seamlessly. Request a demo today.
