Insider Threats and Ransomware: How to Prevent Internal Attacks

Understanding internal cyber threats requires recognising three distinct risk categories:

• Malicious Insiders: Disgruntled employees or contractors who intentionally deploy ransomware, sell network access, or sabotage systems. Rogue employee cybersecurity incidents typically involve privileged users exploiting their positions for maximum damage.
• Negligent Insiders: Clicking phishing links, using weak passwords, or misconfiguring systems. These accidental actions demonstrate that good intentions offer no protection against insider ransomware threats.
• Compromised Users: Represent the most dangerous category because they appear entirely legitimate. Attackers steal credentials through phishing or password spraying, then operate as trusted users, bypassing security controls and making detection extremely difficult without advanced monitoring.

The pathways from insider activity to ransomware deployment follow predictable patterns that organisations must understand to defend effectively. Phishing remains the primary method: attackers send convincing emails that steal employee credentials, then use those credentials to log in as legitimate users and deploy ransomware across the network, appearing entirely trusted and triggering no immediate alarms.

Malicious employees exploit their legitimate access to introduce malware directly onto systems, bypassing perimeter defences entirely. A disgruntled IT administrator with elevated privileges can disable security controls, create backdoors, and execute insider ransomware attacks with devastating efficiency.

Former employees whose accounts remain active after departure maintain access to internal systems long after their departure, creating unnecessary exposure through poor joiners and leavers processes.

Lastly, weak privileged access controls multiply these risks exponentially. Shared administrator accounts obscure individual accountability, making it impossible to trace malicious activity or detect unusual behaviour patterns.

Industry research consistently shows that more than half of insider ransomware threats involve credential compromise, highlighting why organisations must implement least privilege access control to defend against internal cyber threats effectively.

Early detection prevents minor incidents from escalating into ransomware disasters. Recognising these warning signs requires vigilant monitoring and a reporting culture.

Make sure to watch for these critical indicators of insider ransomware threats:

• Unusual Data Access: Employees downloading large data volumes or accessing files outside normal responsibilities.
• Out-of-Hours Privileged Usage: Administrator accounts used during nights, weekends, or holidays.
• Lateral Privilege Escalation: Users accessing systems beyond their assigned role.
• Repeated Authentication Failures: Multiple failed logins suggesting brute force attacks.
• Unauthorised Applications: Unapproved software, especially remote access tools facilitating data exfiltration.
• Suspicious File Modifications: Mass encryption, renaming, or deletion deviating from normal operations.

These indicators of ransomware insider risk demand immediate investigation, often preceding deployment by hours.

Effective prevention of insider ransomware attacks requires a comprehensive, layered approach that addresses people, processes, and technology simultaneously to prevent insider cyberattacks.

Policies and People

Foundation-level protection begins with robust joiners and leavers processes that create accounts promptly and disable them immediately upon departure. Strong password policies, VPN controls, and remote access standards ensure consistent security across distributed teams. Close collaboration between HR and IT enables rapid response to employee status changes or disciplinary actions that might elevate insider threat risks.

Training and Awareness

Regular phishing simulations train staff to recognise social engineering attempts before surrendering credentials, while creating a security culture that encourages reporting suspicious activity transforms employees into an early warning system against internal cyber threats.

Access and Identity Controls

Multi-factor authentication on all accounts represents the most effective defence against credential compromise. MFA ransomware prevention stops attackers even when passwords are stolen.

Implementing least privilege access control ensures employees possess only minimum permissions for their roles, limiting damage from compromised accounts. Role-based access control enforces these least privilege access control principles, while Privileged Access Management provides oversight for administrator accounts. Regular audits remove unused accounts that attackers might exploit.

Technical Detection and Monitoring

Managed Detection and Response services provide continuous monitoring to identify internal cyber threats in real time. And User and Entity Behaviour Analytics establish activity baselines, flagging deviations indicating compromised accounts. Without advanced monitoring understanding normal behaviour patterns, organisations struggle to prevent insider cyberattacks before they cause substantial damage.

Solace Cyber specialises in detecting and responding to insider-driven ransomware, whether you're facing an active attack or need to prevent insider cyberattacks before they occur. Our Managed Detection and Response capabilities monitor your environment continuously, identifying unusual behaviour patterns and compromised accounts that indicate internal cyber threats operating within your network.

Our incident response teams bring extensive experience with ransomware recovery and containment following insider incidents, whether through compromised credentials or malicious employees. We help organisations implement robust least privilege access control frameworks that limit potential damage from any single account compromise, while our rapid containment protocols isolate affected systems within minutes to prevent ransomware from spreading across your network.

This combination of MFA ransomware prevention, advanced monitoring, and immediate response capabilities positions Solace Cyber as both a preventative partner and a recovery specialist when internal threats emerge.

Your biggest cybersecurity risk might already be inside your network. Proactive monitoring catches suspicious behaviour before ransomware encrypts your systems. Solace Cyber's 24/7 UK-based support and ISO 27001 accredited expertise help organisations prevent insider cyberattacks through rapid response and comprehensive digital forensics.

Contact us on 01202 308818 or complete our contact form to strengthen your defences against insider-driven ransomware.

[1] [2] https://www.cybersecurity-insiders.com/2025-insider-risk-report-the-shift-to-predictive-whole-person-insider-risk-management/