Employees in the non-IT department of service provider organisations in India, who consequently do not have privileged access to operating systems, databases, or business applications, are the primary source of insider threats, a study jointly conducted by Data Security Council of India (DSCI) and PwC reveals.

The study was conducted among nine service providers (that provide IT/BPO service) and four client organizations (that outsource core or support processes to service providers in India). About 89 per cent of the service provider organisations believe that behavioural motivation to break existing norms is the primary motive that leads to insider threat, which might be due to the predominant youth mix in the IT/BPO industry, the report said.

On the other hand, 75 per cent of the respondents in the client organisations believe that personal financial gain is the prime motive for insiders at service provider organisations to carry out illicit activities.

All the client organisations surveyed have mandated their service providers to conduct background check of their employees, and 33 per cent of the service provider organizations are using techniques such as social networking or credit history check for employee screening, while 22 per cent use National Skill Registry (NSR) to conduct employee screening. To date, more than 8,50,000 professionals have registered in NSR.