Application of Categorical Division to Classify Motivation For Insider Activities

Abstract

Statement of the problem: identifying insider activities in organizations that lead to threats to information security, one of the first steps of which should be the study of the motivation that pushes employees to illegal actions. The purpose of the work is to synthesize the main classes of insider motivations; at the same time, the classes must cover all possible situations, and each of the classes must not overlap with others. Methods used: categorical division to identify classes and their practical justification. Novelty: in contrast to the existing motivations of insiders, the proposed classification meets the criteria of necessity and sufficiency, thereby being initially sufficiently consistent and covering all cases; Moreover, all classes are obtained theoretically using the strict logic of categorical division. Result: the use of categorical division identified 3 pairs of categories (Internal vs External, Physical vs Psycho-emotional, Benefit or good intentions vs Harm or malicious intent), which made it possible to form 8 unique classes of insider motivations based on their combinations. The existence of each class is confirmed by the presence of a corresponding publication. Theoretical relevance: a unified set of insider motivation classes was obtained that meets the criteria of necessity and sufficiency. Practical relevance: the resulting classes of insider motivations can be used to understand the reasons for such illegal activities and, therefore, to create effective ways to counteract them.