Aspects of Insider Threats

The insider threat has received considerable attention, and is often cited as the most serious security problem. It is also considered the most difficult problem to deal with, because an “insider” has information and capabilities not known to external attackers. The difficulty in handling the insider threat is unsurprising under those circumstances; if one cannot define a problem precisely, how can one approach a solution, let alone know when the problem is solved? This chapter presents some aspects of insider threats, collected at an inter-disciplinary workshop in 2008.