Within government agencies and their Industry partners, insider threat programs are a non-negotiable requirement. This is because protecting information, systems, facilities and people is paramount, especially when national security is at stake. These programs, often aligned within broader security or counterintelligence organizations, play a critical role in safeguarding both the mission and the individuals who carry it out every day.
GDIT serves as a thought-leader and large prime integrator for government insider threat programs, which protect some of the nation’s most sensitive, high-stakes missions and classified information. Our approach focuses on delivering the proper training, data collection, advanced analytics, and robust incident-management protocols that are underpinned by a strong, proactive culture ensuring both people and data remain protected.
Training to Raise Awareness, Inform Actions and Remove Stigma
Insider threat training programs are most successful when they explain why reporting matters, what signs to look for, what steps to take when something feels off and what happens after a report is made.
We provide practical guidance on behavioral indicators, such as nuanced changes in someone’s normal demeanor, work habits or communication style, especially when these shifts persist over time. These can often be clues or precursors to malicious activity such as espionage against the organization, sabotaging IT systems, significant personnel security violations or workplace violence. In addition to detecting malicious behaviors, our approach lends itself to identifying employees who are undergoing suicidal ideations and other concerning mental health challenges. Our process ensures these employees discreetly receive the immediate support they need in order to address the challenges they are facing. Our proven approach has saved lives, while maintaining mission continuity.
We also make a concerted effort to ensure that all employees understand the importance of reporting and are encouraged to report any potential concerning behavior that they may observe in an effort to protect the mission and the well-being of their fellow employees. Projecting a positive image of what insider threat programs provide an organization, conveying the discretion of how our program operates, and highlighting the positive outcomes that our approach yields mitigates the negative stigma that can surround insider threat reporting. The more employees understand that reporting leads to the right people taking the right actions, and ultimately to supporting colleagues in need, the stronger and healthier the organization becomes.
Widely Understood Reporting and Event Management Processes, Acted Upon Quickly
For our insider threat training, awareness, and outreach programs, we take a multi-modal approach – to include everything from live case briefings to informative podcasts, interactive web-based training and more – to reinforce the importance of reporting across the workforce. While insider threat programs
have various methods for proactively detecting insider risks, the most valuable insights often come from reported tips relayed from our employees. These tips help us to understand the context surrounding a potential concern, in an effort to ensure that the right resources are immediately assigned to address a situation that is deemed a significant risk to the organization or an employee therein.
Clear, well-communicated protocols guide what that action looks like. In more than one instance, our team received a tip in the morning, assessed the risks presented, briefed leadership, and stakeholders intervened within hours to bring help to an individual contemplating self-harm before the individual would have departed for the day.
The structured response protocols that we designed are pre-coordinated across the organization to ensure that teams can not only take swift action when it is warranted, but can also spot organizational trends to increase future proactive measures.
A Culture of Awareness and Action Protects the Mission and Saves Lives
Insider threat programs, of course, have an impact beyond training and responding to events. They are integral to building a culture that values mental health and early interventions with positive outcomes to get people the resources they may need in a crisis.
GDIT teams have facilitated tens of thousands of hours of trainings for employees of large organizations, reaching thousands of employees and saving dozens of lives. These touchpoints demonstrate how a culture of awareness and a bias toward action and reporting can serve the greater good. These programs protect not only systems, data and mission but also the lives and livelihoods of the people behind the mission.
