Valital case study: A bank builds a robust insider risk management program

The situation

In the process of building a bespoke insider risk management program, a large bank wanted to add open-source online intelligence (OSINT) gathering to its arsenal of risk management tools designed to detect potential insider threats from employees, contractors, suppliers and other third-parties. These individuals have access privileges to large volumes of highly sensitive financial data.

Why it matters

According to the client, “Insider risk is a people problem, and we can’t ignore internet data in our behavioural analyses. So much of our lives are lived online these days.” 

Insiders are often the biggest security threat for any organization. That risk is infinitely more damaging to banks, which continue to be favourite targets for data theft and financial fraud. Screening for new employees and third-parties is fairly standard within the industry but is not always the case when more experienced, long-serving and trusted employees are moved into roles that give them privileged access to sensitive customer data. 

The opportunity

From a compliance and regulatory perspective, pre-screening, background checks and ongoing monitoring are essential within a bank. The bank endeavours to build robust operational capabilities with an enhanced screening check and investigative program. They want their analysts to have access to a simple, easy and user-friendly tool that can be integrated within their processes to monitor people who occupy high-risk roles. 

The bank invited Valital to demo its AI-powered adverse media monitoring platform that uses Natural Language Processing (NLP), a form of AI that enables computers to extract language from unstructured text. The AI learns human language and uses content and context to perform real-time search and pulse analyses of online media, blogs, and tweets, flagging misconducts related to universally recognized misbehaviours: discrimination, financial crime/fraud, harassment, violence, and addiction.

The client wants to use the information it gathers to help its risk assessment efforts by identifying patterns of behaviour. These online patterns and indicators can help paint a clearer picture of the insiders who are privy to valuable information. 

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How Valital is helping

Following a 30-day pilot, where the client integrated Valital’s SaaS-based platform into their existing processes, the client now has access to:

• Real-time continuous monitoring and alerts to ensure they’re always aware of new online information on individuals they’re actively monitoring.
• French and English results that capture content and context with no automated translation tool.
• Customized features that meet their specific needs.
• Easily accessible technical and user support.

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What the client says

“Insider risk is a people problem, and we can’t ignore internet data in our behavioural analyses. So much of our lives are lived online these days.”