Beyond firewalls: The role of developers in preventing insider threats

This paper outlines the importance of cybersecurity developers in the mitigation of insider threat. The impact of the insider threats on organizations is immense, since these threats take advantage of the organizations by using their internal weaknesses, which are typically ignored by the ordinary security tools such as the firewalls. These risks can be mitigated easily by developers who design systems such that they have proactive detection and deterrence mechanisms integrated into them. In any secure software development, the notion of secure software development practices like secure coding, threat modeling, and implementation of advanced monitoring tools, and parameters, is of utmost concern in terms of detecting and eliminating internal misuse is being promoted in the paper. The literature study reviews case studies that demonstrate the project-based implementation of developer-based security mechanisms to demonstrate their effect of minimizing the risk of insider-based threats. Developers can develop systems that are over and above the conventional system of defense by putting emphasis on anomaly detection, machine learning, and user behavior analytics. Key findings along with recommendations and conclusions of the article involve continual cooperation between the security teams and developers, and the improvements that can be done to prevent insider threats by means of improved methods of software development. Such preventive measures are essential in ensuring protection of organizational data and ensuring trust.