Validating Common Characteristics of Malicious Insiders: Proof of Concept Study

Malicious insiders pose a great threat to both government and private organizations. With their knowledge and access to organizational resources, malicious insiders could launch attack more easily and result in more damaging consequences compared to outsiders. However, empirical research about malicious insiders is rare due to the unavailability of data. In order to better identify common characteristics of malicious insiders, the current study employs text mining to analyze real world cases of malicious insiders from military, intelligence agent and business organizations. Contributions of this study reside in two aspects: first, we utilize public data derived from malicious insider cases implying a new potential data, second, a framework for malicious insider profiling is proposed and further tested, thereby establishing a validated foundation for more comprehensive research in the future.