Government agencies and corporations spend billions of dollars protecting
their computer systems to keep hackers from breaking into their
networks. But they often fail to identify cyber-criminals operating
from the inside, says Robert G. “Tad” Elmer, president
and chief executive officer of BBN Technologies. “Most of
the mischief is not from hackers in their basements but from insiders
in organizations,” he says. “People are looking at files
they shouldn’t look at, snooping around. You really want to
know who they are.” Most security systems are designed to
guard the “front gate” of a network, not to look inside,
Elmer says. “There are thousands of people behind the gate.
All you need is one.”