On Insider Threats

Even before PFC Bradley Manning made off with hundreds of thousands of pages of classified military and diplomatic documents, malicious insiders were a persistent and growing problem in the halls of government, The Pentagon and inside companies large and small. According to Verizon’s 2010 Data Breach Report, 48% of data breaches were caused by insiders – a 26% increase from the previous year. Likewise, the U.S. Military’s Defense Security Service (DSS) reports that insiders have caused more damage to the U.S.

Even before PFC Bradley Manning made off with hundreds of thousands of pages of classified military and diplomatic documents, malicious insiders were a persistent and growing problem in the halls of government, The Pentagon and inside companies large and small. According to Verizon’s 2010 Data Breach Report, 48% of data breaches were caused by insiders – a 26% increase from the previous year. Likewise, the U.S. Military’s Defense Security Service (DSS) reports that insiders have caused more damage to the U.S. government and military in recent years than trained, foreign intelligence professionals.

But what does a malicious insider look like, and how can you spot them? To help put focus on the problem, Threatpost has put together a list of 10 infamous insiders: the individuals behind some of the biggest and most costly acts of espionage and data theft in modern times.

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