I wrote about the insider threat to organisations last week:
And today there is a story with an insider threat twist. The president of a Japanese Sushi company, Kobi Tanabe, has been arrested and accused of accessing information from his previous employer, through contacts and sub-ordinates who still work there.
However, it appears the company, Kappa Sushi, made very little use of the stolen information. When the data theft was discovered at Hama Sushi, it was reported to the police.
Here is Laura Dobberstein pun laden report about the incident over at The Register:
Stolen sushi trade secrets lead to president’s resignation • The Register
Your takeaway from this is to remember that the insider threat is hard to defend against, you need good staff relationships and good policies and procedures to mitigate the problem. Some technical solutions will help such as preventing the use of portable USB storage devices and having comprehensive logs, but logs are often only useful after the event. The one thing I advise all my clients about the insider threat is, if you discover it always report the matter to the police.
Clive Catton MSc (Cyber Security) – by-line and other articles
