When Employees Become the Risk: How to Prevent Insider Threats

Most business owners worry about outside threats—hackers, ransomware, phishing scams. But what if the real danger is already inside your organization?

That’s the reality of insider threats—risks that come from employees, contractors, or vendors who already have access to your systems and data. These threats are harder to spot, easier to underestimate, and often far more damaging when they happen.

What Are Insider Threats?

Insider threats fall into two main buckets:

• Accidental: An employee clicks a malicious link, shares sensitive data over email, or uploads files to an unsecured cloud platform.

• Intentional: A disgruntled staff member deletes critical files, leaks customer information, or sabotages systems on the way out the door.

Both are dangerous—and both are common. In fact, recent studies show that more than half of all data breaches involve someone inside the company.

Why Should Business Management Care?

Small and medium-sized businesses are particularly vulnerable to insider threats:

• Too much access: Employees often wear multiple hats, which can lead to overly broad permissions.

• Limited oversight: Without proper monitoring, harmful actions can go unnoticed for weeks—or longer.

• No formal policies: MOST SMBs operate on trust without documented access controls or offboarding processes.

• Serious consequences: Insider incidents can lead to lost data, compliance fines, damaged reputation, or full business shutdown.

Ignoring insider threats doesn’t make them go away—it makes them more likely to happen.

How to Prevent Insider Threats

Here are a few key steps businesses can take to reduce their risk:

• Restrict Access by Role
  Limit access to systems and data based on job duties—nobody should have access “just in case.”

• Monitor User Activity
  Set up alerts for unusual behavior like large downloads, late-night logins, or access to sensitive files.

• Train Your Team
  Regular cybersecurity awareness training helps prevent accidental insider incidents—especially phishing.

• Enforce MFA & Strong Passwords
  These are simple defenses against credential theft and account misuse.

• Offboard Immediately
  When someone leaves the company, revoke their access right away—including third-party apps and cloud platforms.

• Create Clear Security Policies
  Spell out what’s acceptable, how data should be handled, and what happens when policies are violated.

How Sixwatch Can Help

Don’t let a trusted team member become your weakest link. With the right safeguards and support, you can stop insider threats before they start.

Let’s talk. Contact Sixwatch today for a free insider risk review and find out how we can help secure your business—from the inside out. Schedule a consultation with Sixwatch.