Information security

NSA case highlights growing concerns over insider threats

The arrest of a National Security Agency contractor charged with stealing highly classified material is yet the latest example of a trend that officials say can be every bit as dangerous as an outside hacker: the insider threat.

The federal government has been increasingly concerned about the ability of its own employees and contractors to use their positions to walk away with troves of sensitive information. And it has tried to implement new safeguards to not only better secure important data but also monitor the people with access to it.

Fears over insider threats intensified after the breach by former Army Pfc Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, an NSA contractor working for Booz Allen Hamilton. But with the revelation that Harold Thomas Martin III was arrested in August and charged with theft of government property and unauthorized removal and retention of classified materials, there will be even greater scrutiny of how the nation protects its secrets, officials said.