Forget the outside hacker, the bigger threat is inside by the coffee machine

October 28, 2023 TH Author

Kettle In this week’s Kettle the topic is one that’s been much in the news this week – the much-underrated insider threat issue.

There are thousands of security shops willing to sell elaborate firewalls, zero-trust barriers, and AI security systems that claim to be able to spot a wrong’un easily. But time and again the most effective thieves are already inside the building and using their corporate-issued credentials.

Such was the case this week in the NSA of all places, where a rogue systems engineer, who resigned in anger, tried to sell purloined documents to a Russian agent in exchange for cryptocurrency. Brandon Vigliarolo covered the case and explains what motivated the plot and the surprisingly easy way he was discovered.

News of another insider who did get away with it, it seems, came on Tuesday, as an ex-staffer at Dutch chip-making biz ASML appears to have taken a new job with Huawei, and is accused of taking secrets with him. Tobias Mann has the inside information of the case and, as Biden’s sanctions bite harder, we may see more of these sorts of shenanigans.

Then there’s the ultimate insider – yourself. On Wednesday Jessica Hardcastle reported on an ACLU Freedom of Information lawsuit showing that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement hired security snoops to trawl through social media content to look for anti-American sentiments. She explains the complex web behind this and it’s something we all had a lot to say on. You can see the full discussion below.

So join us for 15 minutes of news, insight, and more than a little snark in the latest Kettle, hosted by Iain Thomson and spun to gold by producer Nicole Hemsoth. There’s also an audio version available now on Apple, Amazon, Spotify and Google. ®