Insider threats and human error

Name:

Date:

Class:

Quick Questions

Shade in the A or B circle for each question.

1. An employee with a valid login deliberately copies customer data to sell it. Is this an insider threat?

A No, only outsiders are threats

B Yes, a malicious insider

2. Which situation is an accidental insider threat?

A Emailing a private spreadsheet to the wrong person

B A stranger guessing a password online

3. Which statement about insider threats is true?

A They can happen by mistake, with no bad intent

B They only happen when someone means to cause harm

4. A student sets a shared folder of class marks to 'Anyone with the link can view'. What type of problem is this?

A A misconfigured sharing setting

B A denial of service attack

5. What makes someone an 'insider' in an insider threat?

A They have hacked into the system

B They have legitimate access to data or systems

Match the Pairs

Draw a line connecting each item on the left to its match on the right.

Left column		Right column
1insider threat		ATo: sam.lee@gmail.com (meant: sam.lee@school.vic.edu.au)
2malicious insider		Bsharing = "Anyone with the link"
3Accidental disclosure: a staff member sends a private file to the wrong person by mistake		CA trusted person who deliberately misuses their access to steal, leak or damage data
4Misconfigured sharing: a private document is left open to anyone who has the link		DInsider threats include accidents too, such as emailing the wrong person or sharing a file publicly by mistake.
5Only outside hackers can cause a data breach, so we do not need to worry about our own staff.		EHarm to data or systems caused by someone who has legitimate access, on purpose or by mistake
6An insider threat only happens when a person plans to cause harm on purpose.		FThis ignores insider threats. People with legitimate access can also cause harm, on purpose or by mistake.

Definitions

insider threat

Fill in the Blanks

Complete each line of code by filling in the missing parts.

insider = hasAccess ___ causesHarm

IF recipient __ intended THEN blockEmail() END IF

IF downloads _ 100 THEN alert("Possible malicious insider") END IF

file.__________ = "public" // Misconfigured: anyone can open it

IF file.isSensitive THEN file.visibility = "private" END __

Spot the Error

Shade in the letter of the line that contains an error.

Question 1

A user_role = "staff"

B if user_role = "staff":

C print("Open records")

Question 2

A intended = "ms.lee@school.edu"

B typed = "ms.lea@school.edu"

C if typed == intended:

D print("Wrong recipient!")

Question 3

A sharing = private

B if sharing == "public":

C print("Anyone can view!")

Question 4

A staff_leaving = True

B if staff_leaving

C revoke_access("Jo")

Question 5

A log = ["tax.csv", "pay.csv"

B for f in log:

C print("Logged access:", f)

Answer Key

Insider threats and human error

Section A: Quick Questions

B — Yes, a malicious insider

A — Emailing a private spreadsheet to the wrong person

A — They can happen by mistake, with no bad intent

A — A misconfigured sharing setting

B — They have legitimate access to data or systems

Section B: Match the Pairs

insider threat → Harm to data or systems caused by someone who has legitimate access, on purpose or by mistake

malicious insider → A trusted person who deliberately misuses their access to steal, leak or damage data

Accidental disclosure: a staff member sends a private file to the wrong person by mistake → To: sam.lee@gmail.com (meant: sam.lee@school.vic.edu.au)

Misconfigured sharing: a private document is left open to anyone who has the link → sharing = "Anyone with the link"

Only outside hackers can cause a data breach, so we do not need to worry about our own staff. → This ignores insider threats. People with legitimate access can also cause harm, on purpose or by mistake.

An insider threat only happens when a person plans to cause harm on purpose. → Insider threats include accidents too, such as emailing the wrong person or sharing a file publicly by mistake.

Section C: Definitions

insider threat — Harm to data or systems caused by someone with legitimate access, either on purpose (malicious insider) or by mistake, like emailing the wrong person or setting a file to public.

Section D: Fill in the Blanks

insider = hasAccess AND causesHarm

IF recipient != intended THEN
  blockEmail()
END IF

IF downloads > 100 THEN
  alert("Possible malicious insider")
END IF

file.visibility = "public"
// Misconfigured: anyone can open it

IF file.isSensitive THEN
  file.visibility = "private"
END IF

Section E: Spot the Error

B — A single = assigns a value. To check whether the user has the staff role you need the comparison operator ==. It should be if user_role == "staff":

C — The warning should appear when the typed address does NOT match the intended one, so a typo like emailing the wrong person is caught. It should be if typed != intended:

A — Text values must be in quotes. Without quotes, Python treats private as a variable name that does not exist. It should be sharing = "private"

B — An if statement must end with a colon. Without it the program has a syntax error and access is never removed for a leaving staff member. It should be if staff_leaving:

A — The list is missing its closing square bracket, so the program has a syntax error and the access log is never built. It should end with ].