From Human to Hybrid: How AI and the Analytics Gap Are Fueling Insider Risk

Insider risks have eclipsed external threats, and organizations aren’t keeping pace.

64% of cybersecurity professionals now believe insiders, whether malicious or compromised, pose a greater risk than external actors. And the threat isn’t static: 53% say insider threats have increased over the past year, and 54% expect them to escalate further over the next 12 months.

Despite this urgency, detection capabilities remain alarmingly immature. Just 44% of organizations are using user and entity behavior analytics (UEBA), a core capability required to detect abnormal behavior. While 88% say they have some form of insider threat program in place, many of these efforts are informal, underfunded, or lack critical visibility across systems. Compounding the challenge is generative AI (GenAI).

76% of organizations report unauthorized GenAI usage by employees. Meanwhile, 74% believe AI has already increased the effectiveness of insider threats from phishing and impersonation to data exfiltration and deception. The threat surface is expanding fast and internal security teams are underprepared.