# What is insider risk, and how is it different from an outside attack?

Insider risk is harm caused by someone with legitimate access: an employee, contractor or supplier who misuses data or systems on purpose, makes a costly mistake, or has their account taken over. The difference from an outside attack is the starting point: an insider is already past the front door, with valid credentials and normal-looking activity, so controls built only around the perimeter miss it. Most insider incidents are mistakes rather than malice, so the best measures are simple: give people only the access their role needs, remove it when roles change, use multi-factor authentication, keep backups and train staff. NetSenX sees one part of this: unusual behaviour of a device, such as connections to servers it never used or large uploads. It cannot judge intent and does not watch people.

General information, not legal advice. National laws can add to the EU texts quoted here, for example deadlines, forms or reporting channels: check your own country's rules.

FAQ: [People, HR and insider risk](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/people) · https://netsenx.com/en/faq/what-is-insider-risk

## Read next

- https://netsenx.com/en/is-someone-inside-your-network
- https://netsenx.com/en/dpa
- https://netsenx.com/en/eu-data-residency

## Related questions

- [Can employees see what the security tool records about their device?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/can-employees-see-what-the-security-tool-records-about-their-device)
- [What should an acceptable use policy say about security monitoring?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/what-should-an-acceptable-use-policy-say-about-monitoring)
- [How long should security logs about employee devices be kept?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/how-long-should-security-logs-about-employee-devices-be-kept)
- [Is AI-based emotion or productivity monitoring of staff allowed in the EU?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/is-emotion-or-productivity-monitoring-of-staff-allowed)
- [How do we know a former employee's device is no longer on our network?](https://netsenx.com/en/faq/how-do-we-know-a-former-employees-device-is-no-longer-on-our-network)