# Insider Threat Awareness Course (Self-Paced)

Canonical URL: <https://www.graduateschool.edu/courses/insider-threat-awareness-self-paced>

## Overview

This course provides a foundational awareness course for the general federal workforce, grounded in the government-wide authorities rather than any single agency's policy. It covers the full picture: what an insider threat is, the legal framework behind agency programs, how to recognize behavioral and technical indicators, how and where to report, and what individuals can do to reduce risk in daily work. The course is deliberately built to teach discrimination rather than recall — interactive categorization exercises and scenario-based practice activities mix genuine indicators with neutral, non-reportable items, so learners practice telling the difference instead of pattern-matching to a checklist. The material is explicit throughout that no single indicator proves intent, and that an employee's job is to report for trained analysts to assess, not to self-adjudicate.

The part most off-the-shelf training skips is the line between insider threat reporting and protected whistleblower disclosures. The two systems coexist, and using one does not forfeit protections under the other. The course also handles personal-stressor indicators such as financial hardship with care, framing reporting as a route to help rather than a route to suspicion.

## What you'll learn

- Define insider threat and distinguish its categories: malicious, negligent or unintentional, or exploited, as used in federal guidance
- Identify the key federal authorities that require insider threat programs and employee awareness training
- Recognize common behavioral and technical indicators of potential insider threat activity, and explain why indicators are contextual rather than conclusive
- Explain when, how, and to whom to report a concern, and how insider threat reporting differs from and does not conflict with protected whistleblower disclosures
- Describe practical steps every employee can take to reduce insider threat risk in their own daily work

## Curriculum

#### Module 1

- Understanding Insider Threats
- What counts as an insider, including current and former employees, contractors, and trusted business partners
- The malicious, negligent, or exploited categories
- Composite scenarios illustrating each
- The national security, safety, financial, and mission-continuity consequences

#### Module 2

- The Legal and Policy Framework
- Executive Order 13587
- The National Insider Threat Policy and Minimum Standards
- The role of the National Insider Threat Task Force
- The initial and annual training requirement for cleared personnel
- How agency policy takes precedence

#### Module 3

- Recognizing Behavioral and Technical Indicators
- What a potential risk indicator is and why one indicator proves nothing
- Behavioral indicators including unexplained financial distress, disgruntlement, and interest beyond need-to-know
- Technical indicators including after-hours access, unusual data volume, unauthorized removable media, and control bypass attempts
- Handling personal-stressor indicators with care

#### Module 4

- Reporting: Your Responsibilities and Protections (30 min): reporting channels; what happens after a report and why the employee's role ends there; reporting promptly rather than waiting for certainty; the distinction between insider threat reporting and protected whistleblower disclosure; anti-retaliation protections for good-faith reports

#### Module 5

- Prevention, Mitigation, and Your Role
- Individual best practices covering credentials, need-to-know, removable media, social engineering, and offboarding
- The multidisciplinary nature of a mature program spanning security, HR, legal, IT, counterintelligence, and employee assistance
- Lessons-learned vignette and course recap

## Pricing

**Tuition:** $675