Submitting Campus

Prescott

Department

Global Security & Intelligence Studies

Document Type

Article

Publication/Presentation Date

5-14-2026

Abstract/Description

Organizations today face a growing and evolving threat that often originates not from an outside hacker or criminal organization, but from within their own workforce, vendor networks, and trusted partnerships. Insider threats continue to represent one of the most difficult risks to identify, prevent, and mitigate because insiders already possess something external adversaries spend enormous resources trying to obtain: trust, access, and legitimacy.

For decades, many organizations relied heavily on pre-employment criminal history checks and reference verification as their primary safeguard against insider misconduct. While these tools remain important foundational elements of any hiring and risk management program, they are no longer sufficient by themselves. Modern insider threats are far more complex, sophisticated, and dynamic than a simple criminal background screening can detect.

Publication Title

EP Wired

Publisher

EP Wired

Additional Information

Please access the version-of-record published by EP Wired here.

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