The insider threat refers to when internal associates of an organization use their access to information for the wrong reasons.Insider threats are very damaging because the internal employee has detailed insider knowledge about their organization, and they are many times trusted by their employers. Since the internal employee is granted such liberty to carry out their jobs, financial theft by fraudulent internals often results in financial losses that are very great.

Security industry statistics state that financial loss from insider threats is greater: 48.5% of financial losses from major business organizations are caused by theft from fraudulent insiders or employees. External theft by outsiders results in 31.7%. This shows that losses from insider threats in many organizations are very significant

According to US Federal Trade Commission 2003 Identity Theft Survey Report, 9.9 million Americans were victims of identity theft, identity phishing, and fraud, and this cost corporations over $47.6 billion. According to the 2002 National Retail Security Survey [based on 2001 shrinkage estimates], 48.5% of financial theft and losses within US retail corporations were caused as a result of internal theft, fraud, misuse and error.

Furthermore, according to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiner's 2008 report, U.S. organizations lost 7% of their annual revenues to occupational fraud. Applied to the projected 2008 United States gross domestic product, this 7% figure translates to approximately $994 billion in fraud losses, with a median loss of occupational fraud standing at $175,000. These statistics illustrate the high degree of risk of insider threats and internal fraud while conducting the day-to-day financial and operational aspects of any business.

Nowell's Shalom Security Platform is a security software service that prevents insider threats, internal fraud and identity theft by identifying suspicious and high risk behavior inside the business computing environment. It detects and authenticates suspicious, high risk behavior that are indicators of internal fraud and identity theft.

Nowell's software, delivered as a secure service over the internet, uses anomaly detection and intelligent multifactor authentication to prevent security breaches. It also enforces compliance measures outlined by FISMA, NIST 800-53, SOX, GLBA, HIPAA, Basell II, FFIEC Information Security, and PCI Security/VISA-CISP Standards.