Social media, websites, and applications which allow users to create or share content are widespread and immensely popular. Surveys and studies suggest that a sizable majority of Americans use social media regularly. For many working adults, social media sites provide a means of staying in touch, sharing opinions, receiving news, being creative, learning new skills, and much more. But for all its positive attributes, social media carries a variety of detrimental impacts, including: 1) online “echo chambers” that repeat conspiracy theories and misinformation, 2) users feeling varying degrees of social isolation, 3) increasing emotional issues related to things like body image, 4) bullying and harassment, and 5) privacy concerns. Additionally, international and domestic terror organizations have utilized online networks to recruit and influence individuals. Fringe and even mainstream social and political movements leverage social media to influence individuals regarding their ideas or platforms. The most popular social media sites sometimes facilitate the sharing of opinions no matter how unfiltered, uninformed, or irrational. It is critically important that insider risk program staff, as well as all other personnel within an organization, are attuned to the ways in which social media may escalate risk. External influence and perceived pressure from social media can negatively impact the degree of insider risk within an organization. Here are some examples:

• In a rush to post a new installment on their daily feed, an employee inadvertently photographs sensitive information and equipment in the background of their selfie.

• Over a span of months, a contractor is drawn into an online political collective from which they derive all of their news and information – much of which is false. They soon become obsessed with the employer’s supposed greed and rather than pursuing appropriate whistleblower or reporting channels, begin working to undermine the organization. • A disgruntled employee begins to see their favorite social media platform, with its global reach and widespread use, as a means of becoming famous and to really “make a difference” by publishing classified information that most people would find “shocking”.

Early intervention often results in a positive outcome for the individual and the organization.

https://www.dni.gov/files/NCSC/documents/nittf/NITAM_2022_Bulletin_1_31…