5 insider risk wins: turn security spend into business value

Your workforce is more distributed than ever, and at the rate data moves these days, traditional security controls simply can’t cut it. But it can be tough to justify new tech investments, even when it’s needed. The good news? You can leverage business critical risks like lost intellectual property (IP) and policy violations, not to instill fear, but to show value and RO). 

According to Mimecast, human risk is the weakest link in cybersecurity: 60% of breaches involve human error, with just 8% of employees responsible for 80% of incidents.

Explore five measurable wins from insider risk management solutions, why they’re important, and key questions to ask as you assess available solutions. Use this guide to help you build a business case for investment in insider risk management.

Download: 5 big wins to drive budget for Incydr

1. When employees resort to shadow IT solutions

Employees eager to use the latest tools may turn to unauthorized shadow IT solutions, bypassing company oversight. This creates security blind spots and heightens the risk of data leaks. To address this, companies should:

• Detect and mitigate risks with modern tools that identify known and unknown risks without complex setups.
• Educate and empower employees on GenAI security risks through training, real-time alerts, and automated micro-lessons to correct errors.
• Contain and control incidents with solutions that minimize damage and secure data after user mistakes.
• Block high-risk data sharing to prevent unauthorized use of GenAI platforms.
• Invest in DLP solutions to monitor and restrict risky data movement effectively.

Evaluate CASB alternatives

The right solution will go beyond traditional categories and focus on outcomes. As you consider alternate tools and software, ask these questions:

• Can the solution see user activity across managed and unmanaged devices?
• Are TLS inspections or network re-routing required?
• Is it able to tell the difference between risky behavior and normal work patterns without overwhelming teams with alerts? 

2. Expose ‘secret moonlighting’ before it becomes a risk 

There are plenty of benefits to remote and hybrid work. At the same time, it’s easier for your employees to quietly take on secondary jobs. While not typically malicious, the opportunity for sensitive data, IP, or customer information to move between environments without your knowledge is high. 

The challenge is that this kind of file or data movement doesn’t look like a typical security incident. Work happens across personal and unmanaged devices with data funneling through unsanctioned cloud apps and accounts. And the reality is traditional tools aren’t built to detect behavioral patterns, only violations of policy. For true protection you should be able to see all data exfiltration events. 

Modern insider risk platforms help businesses be more proactive. Instead of flagging every file transfer, you can see patterns that may indicate potential conflicts of interest or policy violations, including: 

• Repeated uploads to personal cloud storage
• Regular downloads to unsanctioned or unidentified devices
• Unusual activity outside normal working hours 

Monitor risky work patterns 

To uncover tools that will best help you protect your business, IP, and contractual obligations, find out the following:

• Can you detect abnormal data movement without needing invasive monitoring?
• Can the platform provide context around role, timing, and destination?
• Can it surface early warning signs without creating employee distrust? 

3. Stop source code and IP theft before it leaves your organization 

According to anonymized data we see in our environment, 57% of data uploaded to Generative AI tools is source code. When source code or proprietary data walks out the door, it’s nearly impossible to get it back. Yet, many organizations are still relying on old perimeter controls or repository permissions. The downfall with these types of solutions is that risk only exists within approved systems. 

Data can leave your business through everyday means:

• Source code is copied to AI tools, personal cloud storage, or email
• Files are compressed or renamed to avoid detection
• By the time someone’s access is revoked, the data has already left

With insider risk management, you get visibility into how sensitive data moves, no matter its destination. The system provides unmatched visibility into all data movement and a range of adaptive controls like education, blocking, or prompting employees that can be activated in real time. Context is also provided, by flagging whether the activity was tied to a resignation, role change, or spike in downloads. 

Protect your IP 

When it comes to source code and IP theft, the goal is to be able to intervene early and reduce reliance on post-incident forensics or legal action. It’s important to consider the following when evaluating the right solution:

• Can you secure source code repositories or high-value data sources?
• Can you track data movement outside sanctioned repositories?
• Can you get visibility into data movement regardless of policy?
• Can you use AI to speed investigations?

4. Block and prevent intentional leaks, no matter who is involved

Not all data leaks are accidents. Sometimes, someone you trust — even senior leaders or long-tenured employees — may knowingly bypass controls to share sensitive information. And it’s easier than ever with personal email, file-sharing tools, and informal collaboration platforms. 

To set the stage:

• Executives often operate outside standard workflows
• Traditional DLP tools lack flexibility, relying on rigid rules and keywords
• Intentional misuse looks different from careless mistakes
• Static controls struggle to keep up with the nuances of high-risk behavior 

Insider risk platforms focus on intent signals so you can see when sensitive files are shared in unusual ways or at suspicious times (e.g., just before an earnings announcement, layoffs, or disclosure of a major deal). Controls like “Temporary Allow” will prompt users when there’s a potential data leak, and ensure they provide

The goal is prevention and insider risk solutions help you intervene discreetly and timely, course-correcting behaviors before reputational or legal damage can occur. 

Stop data leakage

When you understand how and why data is shared, you can take steps to protect both the organization and people involved. In your assessments, ask whether a platform can: 

• Detect any risky sharing across personal and unmanaged channels
• Prioritize behavioral context over rigid policies
• Block high-risk scenarios from happening with preventative controls

5. See through the tricks and obfuscation

If an employee is trying to exfiltrate data, they most likely rely on simple techniques that evade traditional tools. For example, they’ll rename files, use a compressed folder, break data into smaller pieces, or disguise sensitive content as harmless files. These obfuscation techniques are easy and effective, with individual actions looking benign when done in isolation. 

The value is in your ability to understand behavior over time. Insider risk platforms analyze how users interact with and manipulate data. It will look for sudden increases in compression activity, unusual printing behavior, or last-minute transfers before departure. With Incydr, analysts get a contextual timeline and file-level detail on exactly what happened.

Get advanced detection

The ability to correlate actions across time, tools, and context lets you stay ahead of creative evasion tactics. To get the right solution, ask if it can: 

• Detect patterns and get contextualized alerts to reduce false alarms
• Automatically identify obfuscation techniques
• Monitor and stop high-risk scenarios with watchlists and preventative controls

Related Read: Mimecast Incydr: 5 customer stories with proven ROI in under 6 months 

Turn insider risk into actionable wins with Mimecast Incydr

Verizon’s 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report found the human element was involved in 60% of breaches. To get ahead of this, you need clarity to address today’s insider risk. With Mimecast Incydr you get unmatched visibility from day 1 into how your data actually moves across generative AI tools, cloud apps, personal accounts, and unmanaged devices. 

Incydr empowers you to:

• Detect Shadow AI risk
• Surface risky work patterns
• Stop IP and source code loss
• Prevent intentional leaks
• Detect obfuscation tactics
• Consolidate data protection tooling
• Utilize AI to streamline investigations

Operating from a single platform, Mimecast’s solution focuses on user behavior and intent, providing actual proof no matter the nuance of an incident. Because no policy setup is required, teams get visibility as soon as they’re deployed. To quantify risk and turn insight into a budget-backed business case, request an Incydr Data Security Assessment today.