When it comes to combatting insider threats, one of the first lines of defense is personnel vetting. Ensuring incompetent or ill-intentioned individuals never get hired in the first place is incredibly effective in minimizing incidents. In order to weed such individuals out, a thorough vetting process is required so nobody slips through the cracks.
Those who have access to highly classified information and materials need to demonstrate impeccable levels of trustworthiness, loyalty, and expertise. With the stakes so high, it’s important to know what makes up a great vetting process for employment. Read below for more information.
Understanding the Purpose of Personnel Vetting
To be clear, we’re discussing something much more in-depth than your average hiring process. A retail store may look into your work history and interview you to make sure you’re a good fit, but government positions are a different story. Your background, character, expertise, potential weaknesses, and more will all be scrutinized. Several people associated with you will be contacted and questioned regarding you.
The goal is to gain an understanding of the kind of person you are, and how reliable you will be in a role. That is, how will you handle yourself when dealing with sensitive information and operations?
Key Elements of the Vetting Process
Any effective vetting process for employment will have a multilevel design. Assessments and various checks are necessary to maintain security. The core elements of the process include:
- Background Checks: A comprehensive review of criminal history, employment verification, financial responsibility, and personal references give insights into a candidate’s history and integrity.
- Security Clearance Investigations: Every potential employee is subject to thorough investigations aligned with adjudication standards. These investigations weigh all possible risk factors, like foreign contacts or financial instability, and are all examined to determine overall job suitability.
- Continuous Evaluations: One common issue across every industry in the world is employees becoming complacent. They may not intend harm, but in a highly sensitive setting complacency can lead to security threats, as can other factors that may lead to an employee being compromised. Because of this possibility, frequent evaluations are necessary to identify emergent risks.
Behavioral and Insider Threat Indicators
In addition to history, personnel vetting incorporates assessments of behavior that indicate the potential for insider threat risks. Agencies like GEM Technology are highly trained in the identification of warning signs such as:
- Suspicious or unexplained financial activity
- Unreported foreign contacts and other questionable foreign influence
- Substance abuse, erratic behavior, or a general disregard for security policies in the past.
On top of these focuses, psychological assessments play a crucial role in pattern identification that may signal risks down the road. Even after initial approval, ongoing monitoring of individuals is necessary to ensure commitment to protocols.
Balancing Privacy With Security Requirements
Thus far, we’ve discussed thorough assessment policies. These are a necessary aspect of government and other sensitive employment areas, but personal security and privacy concerns must always be taken into consideration. Individual rights must always be protected.
Because of this need to avoid overstepping privacy boundaries, agencies must follow strict ethical and legal guidelines. This ensures all investigations are fair and nondiscriminatory. Striking such a balance is in the best interest of both the individual in question and the organization conducting the process.
Best Practices for Agencies and Contractors
The vetting process must be strong. To achieve this, we (along with other agencies) adhere to the following best practices when conducting investigations:
- Establish Policies and Procedures: Consistency in vetting across all candidates minimizes oversights and keeps it fair for everyone in consideration.
- Employ Current Technologies: Modern technology offers various tools for assisting in background checks. Utilizing such technology is imperative for an effective vetting process.
- Train HR and Other Program Managers: Anyone involved in the hiring process must receive ongoing training in procedures to ensure proper insider threat assessments are carried out.
GEM Can Help With Your Vetting Process
No corners should be cut when vetting for any high-clearance position. This kind of diligence is essential in protecting sensitive data, but also people and the country as a whole. With a combination of background checks, clearance investigations, ongoing monitoring, and insider threat awareness, a trustworthy workforce can be achieved.
It’s important to remember that vetting isn’t a one-and-done process. Checks need to be ongoing to ensure no employee is compromised in any way. At GEM Technology, our Insider Threat solutions help ensure your workforce remains at the top of its game. Get in touch and we can help your organization stay safe from related threats.