Insider threat

A security risk that comes from people inside the organization, such as employees, contractors or partners, whether through malicious intent, carelessness or being manipulated.

Insider threats fall into several categories. Some are deliberate, such as an employee stealing client lists before leaving for a competitor or sabotaging systems after a dispute. Many more are accidental, like emailing personal information to the wrong recipient or falling for a phishing scam. In other cases, an outsider uses an insider's stolen credentials, which looks like insider activity.

Small businesses are often built on trust, and staff may have wide access because roles overlap. That flexibility is useful, but it means a single person can cause significant harm, intentionally or not. Insider incidents involving personal information can still lead to breach notification duties under Alberta's privacy laws.

Practical tip: apply least privilege so people have only the access their job requires, log access to sensitive systems, and have a firm offboarding process that removes access promptly when someone leaves or changes roles. Pay particular attention to employees with administrator rights or access to banking and payroll.