Which employees have the potential to pose the biggest security threat?

A company's greatest security threat may not come from outside sources, but from it's own employees and employers need to take specific measures to reduce these potential risks, says Pepper Hamilton, LLP. The first step to reducing in-house security risks comes from simply being aware. According to Pepper Hamilton, the following positions and the employees that fill them, may pose the biggest security threat:

• Information technology (IT) employees. With companies increasingly reliant on technology, workers in the IT department pose one of the greatest potential threats to compromising a company's systems. IT employees know all of the sacred codes, frequently work during hours when other employees are off and in restricted-access settings.

• Financial and accounting employees. Employees in the financial functions have access to, and unique knowledge about, the company's money. Bad morale among financial employees could give workers an incentive to steal.

• Employees who take work home. A company's secure data, such as client or consumer identification information, could be at risk if misplaced by an employee who brings work or work materials outside the office. Many security breaches have occurred when laptops were misplaced or stolen. Although forbidding employees from taking work home may be counter-productive and ultimately unavoidable, restricting who can do this, for what purposes and for how long, can decrease loss of confidential data as can putting in place procedures that more closely monitor who takes home what.

• Employees who are drug-addicted or with gambling problems. Workers with drug or gambling problems may be tempted to steal to sustain their addictions or cover their losses.