KPMG recently released a report titled, “Who is the typical fraudster?,” indicating that companies were not seeing the red flags when it came to insider threats. According to KPMG’s analysis of 348 cases across 69 countries from 2008 to 2010 that they investigated on behalf of its clients, the typical “fraudster” is described as:
• A 36-45 year old male in a senior management role in the finance unit or in a finance-related function
• An employee for more than 10 years who usually would work in collusion with another individual
The report indicates that 56 percent of the frauds the KPMG member firms investigated “had exhibited one or more red flags that should have brought management attention to the issue, but only 10 percent of those cases had been acted upon prior to requiring a full investigation.”
Should companies be solely relying on red flags to protect their sensitive corporate data? KPMG suggests endorsing and supporting robust ethics and compliance policies and conducting vendor screening and background checks on new hires.
We at BeyondTrust believe insiders like Disgruntled Dave can be thwarted when an organization implements a least privilege environment to help secure their perimeter within. Whether we like it or not, people can do bad things intentionally, accidentally, or indirectly, and it is our responsibility to take measures to prevent this.
