Addressing Insider Threats in the Hybrid Workplace

A 2024 survey of 14,003 employees across the UK, the U.S., France, Germany, Australia, and Singapore, revealed that 65% of employees bypass organizational cybersecurity policies for convenience.

In hybrid setups, weak passwords, personal devices usage, and shadow IT are common due to reduced oversight.

Such employee negligence leaves organizations vulnerable to insider threats and external attacks. In this article, we explore how hybrid work amplifies insider threats, and strategies to mitigate those risks.

Understanding Insider Threats

Insider threats are security risks originating from within an organization. Such threats arise when contractors, partners or employees (current or past) misuse access privileges.

Anyone with legitimate access to a company’s networks and systems may pose a security risk, even if their intent is not malicious.

There are various types of insider threats, according to Fortinet, but they often fall into one of two categories: intentional and unintentional insider threats.

Intentional Insider Threat:

An intentional insider threat arises when a malicious individual deliberately uses their access privilege to steal data, disrupt operations or cause reputational damage.

Malicious insiders may act alone, often for personal gain or revenge, or in collusion with competitors and cybercriminals.

Unintentional Insider Threat:

This category includes compromised and negligent insiders who, despite their good intentions, may accidentally expose sensitive information by neglecting security policies, mishandling files or falling for phishing attacks.

Insider threats, like any other cyberattack, have far-reaching impacts from theft to espionage. And such security risks are prevalent in hybrid work environments, exposing modern organizations to higher risk levels.

How Hybrid Work Environments Amplify Insider Threats

The shift to hybrid work models has blurred traditional security boundaries, as employees now access company assets on home networks, sometimes using personal devices. Home networks, with consumer-grade routers, weak Wi-Fi encryption, and unmanaged IoT devices create exploitable gaps for attackers to steal data or escalate privileges.

Below are key factors that make insider threats more pronounced in hybrid work environments:

• Distributed Access: Employees access sensitive data from various locations and devices; this adds more endpoints, inevitably increasing risk.
• Reduced Oversight: In hybrid workspaces, IT teams have less real-time visibility into user activity, making it harder to detect policy violations and malicious behavior before significant damage occurs.
• Increased Human Error: Reduced supervision and poor security practices heighten the risk of accidental data leaks. In addition, fatigue-related errors, associated with prolonged screen exposure, frequently occur in hybrid work environments, a risk amplified by the fact that up to 58% of employees have mistakenly send emails to the wrong recipient.
• Shadow IT: The use of unauthorized apps and cloud services is common in hybrid setups, with employees seeking quick tools to enhance their productivity, outside office channels. These unsanctioned services often lack enterprise-grade security, bypass SSO, and create blind spots for IT teams.

Effective Strategies to Combat Insider Threats in the Hybrid Workplace

Given the unique security risks heightened by hybrid setups, it’s clearer than ever that legacy security alone is simply inadequate.

Perimeter defenses often miss subtle misuse of access privileges, while manual log reviews are too slow to catch evolving threats. What organizations need is behavior-based, real-time detection, combining behavioral analytics with continuous monitoring, for deeper insight into user activity.

The following strategies outline how IT leaders, particularly CISOs, can safeguard data and maintain trust in today’s hybrid workplace.

Enforce least privilege access control for remote workers

Following the principle of least privilege, remote workers must be granted the minimum level of access necessary to perform their tasks.

Moreover, access privileges must be role-based, regularly reviewed, and promptly adjusted as responsibilities change.

Inactive user accounts must also be revoked, to prevent hackers from exploiting old credentials.

Implement User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA)

UEBA, according to IBM, is a “security software that uses automation, machine learning algorithms, and behavioral analytics to detect and respond to insider threats.”

It analyzes patterns such as irregular login times and unusual file access against a baseline of normal behavior, alerting security teams before incidents escalate.

In hybrid organizations, UEBA augments enterprise security by continuously monitoring end-users and non-user entities like routers, servers and IoT devices.

Mandate security training and compliance

All employees should complete mandatory security awareness training focused on the risks of hybrid work. The training content should be updated regularly to reflect emerging insider threats, from unsafe data handling to shadow IT.

In addition, simulated attacks can help staff understand how cybercriminals steal credentials and disrupt operations. Cultivating a security-conscious culture promotes caution and accountability, further reducing insider risk.

Final Thoughts

The much-needed flexibility that hybrid work provides comes with a catch: increased risk. No matter how much effort employees invest in securing their home networks and personal devices, their security measures may not meet enterprise standards.

Combating the risks associated with hybrid work requires a layered strategy that integrates people, policy, and technology. By adopting solutions such as Paratus’ UEBA and insider threat monitoring services, organizations gain real-time visibility and stronger protection for critical assets.

Ready to secure your hybrid workforce? Contact us today to see how we can augment your current security framework.