Mitigating Insider Risks Amid Election Misinformation and Divisiveness in the Workplace

Your employees across the globe are voting constituents, and as such will have opinions re their choices in national, regional and local elections. Voting is the voice of the individual and is of tremendous importance. That said, election season brings an increase in the overall temperature when opinions, especially divergent opinions, are present. Insider risk management (IRM) teams need to plug into the flow of governmental advisories, prosecutions, sanctions, and briefings for applicability to their locale. When these efforts are successful, chaotic divisiveness is the result, leading to untenable and extreme positions. And a very real uptick in risk arrives at your doorstep.

The election in the United States is fast approaching. France recently concluded their national election. The global commonality lays within how the constituents within these nations have been inundated with misinformation and disinformation. The origin of these efforts can be found originating from Russia, Iran and China, with two goals: One, to push voters in the direction most beneficial to the national interests of the originating country, and two, to cause chaos and distrust with the voting process and with their fellow citizens.

Nation States Hard at Work to Divide

The nation states, Russia, China and Iran have been roundly called out for their activities. The United States, United Kingdom, France and Canada have made public the covert efforts to provide talking points and content to those with an audience, as well as utilize commercially available infrastructure. 

For those entities (both public and private) they are being targeted by the nation states, with disinformation pertaining to the security of the ballot box, the manner of voting and those who are administering the elections. In each of those areas, individuals are and will be affected by these efforts. Post-2020 elections, the number of volunteer voting officials markedly decreased after being doxed and threatened. The information, if within the archives of a company, should be treated as confidential information, and one would be naive to think that the identity of the keepers of the keys are not being sought by bad actors.

Governments Highlight Disinformation and Influence Operations

The United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has issued a plethora of information surrounding election security. Their piece on foreign influence operations and disinformation is particularly useful as it provides companies with a clear understanding of CISA’s role, the tactics of disinformation and specifics surrounding “election security rumor vs. reality.” 

Similarly, France’s agency to address disinformation, VIGINUM, issued a report that highlighted the disinformation deluge which preceded the French elections. This report, “Matryoshka”, named after the Russian nesting dolls, shared the Russian successes. Furthermore, the report also highlighted the efforts of those generating disinformation to target and silence in more than 60 countries, based on their fact-checking efforts. 

When Politics Divide

This divisiveness has percolated out of the political discussion and moved into the business world, complete with ad hominem attacks and personal disparagements. With respect to the U.S. presidential election, the mainstream media has detailed how industry titans have vocally endorsed former President Donald Trump, Similarly, a growing number of equally powerful individuals have pushed their support Vice President Kamala Harris. 

The Washington Post highlights the chasm within the tech sector which has served to tear at the fabric of “decade-long friendships and business partnerships.” The ad hominem attacks have been downright nasty and “dredged up old tensions around gender, race and civil rights.”  The piece continues how, “Among the elite, the fights are taking place on X, where a previous code of respect among people with a shared history and love of technology has been broken.” 

The Impact on Insider Risk

As noted supra, employees’ personal perspective may run at a 180-degree divergence from that of their CEO or the company when it comes to national politics. The optimist projects that as adults, politics and business are separate and business continues unabated. The pragmatist sees the potential for an individual to find their CEO’s position to be a personal affront and to either vote with their feet or to undermine the success of the company and by extension the CEO’s success. 

The Role of Insider Risk Management, Pre- and Post-Election

Insider risk management (IRM) teams benefit from leadership transparency about a divided voting constituency, which is a serious concern. While some companies may push out employees with differing views, others value diverse opinions. IRM teams recognize the increased risk when employees leave and have strategies to address it.

The possibility that the political disposition of a company’s leadership has a deleterious effect on the morale or mindset of the workforce is not zero. The feelings and disposition of an incensed employee is difficult to predict, though every IRM team knows the risk posed by the disgruntled/angered employee is above those of the content employee.  

Proactively addressing issues is crucial. Leadership briefings and promoting the IRM team’s efforts can encourage employees to report unusual behavior. Additionally, since vendors and customers may have differing viewpoints, it’s important to engage with them to prevent political differences from disrupting supply and provisioning chains.

The Power of Behavioral Analytics 

In closing, the availability of behavior analytics is a leg up for IRM teams. With such, one can highlight the enhanced/increased risk by a potentially malevolent individual who has been compromised and or has self-selected themselves to act in a malevolent manner. In addition, behavior analytics allow the IRM team to warn individuals on how their actions or those of an adversary attempting to manipulate the employee will put the enterprise at increased risk. 

As the election year of 2024 draws to a close, the ability of IRM teams to make a difference in keeping workplaces safe, information secure and employees protected is a very real benefit when the teams operate in a proactive manner.