Aware Human Behavior Risk Analysis

M AY 2 0 1 9
The Human Behavior Risk Analysis

Report
Discover employee behavior that could be threatening
your organizaSon’s security, compliance and culture.
😉
What r u doing a-er the HR did nothing because
company party he was a “high performer”
Screw this place. For real.
GoPa update my resume
My corp card number is

3456 8923 9328 2300 $#%! Delete the rest of
the emails. NOW!
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
A Note From Aware’s Head Researcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

................................
INTRODUCTION About the Human Behavior Risk

Unpredictable Human Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Analysis Report
.............................
PotenBal Threats in Digital CollaboraBon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
........................... Aware’s Behavioral Intelligence team
.......... examined more than a million enterprise
HIGHLIGHTS
collaboraBon messages from tens of
ObservaBons & Keyfindings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 thousands of authors in order to glean
......................... the insights found in this report.
SECTION ONE: SENTIMENT

Though this report focuses on aggregate
The Impact of SenBment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 trends across many organizaBons and
..................... industries, Aware regularly helps
The Power of PosiBvity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
organizaBons beRer understand their
....................
NegaBvity Casts a Larger Shadow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 unique blind spots and areas of risk.
..............................
SECTION TWO: TOXICITY

Send us an email to request your own
Toxicity is Contagious . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 assessment at hello@AwareHQ.com
....................
The Impact of Toxicity in the Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
...........................
Toxicity in Private Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
..........
..........................
Drugs, Sex and Other Not-Safe-For-Work Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
...................
...................
SECTION THREE: INSIDER THREATS
.......
AccounBng for the Cost of an Insider Breach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 The Challenge of the Annual . . . . . . . . . 9
....................... Employee Engagement Survey .........
InformaBon Sharing is Easier, and More Reckless, Than Ever. . . . . . . . . 18
.................. .........
......... The Damage of a Toxic Employee . . . 15
InformaBon Is Shared Privately and Publicly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 .........
......... ...
....................... Insider Threats and Workplace . . . .. .. .20
. . . . . .
......... ...
.................. CollaboraBon PlaDorms . . .. . . .. .. . .
. .
CONCLUSION ......... ...
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......... ...
CollaboraBon Tools & Human Behavior Risk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 ..... .
......... CONTACT ...
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Monitoring & Compliance SoluBon for Enterprise CollaboraBon . . . . .. 24 ...
.................. About Aware & Contact Info . . . . . . 27
..... ...
ARain AcBonable, Near Real-Time Insights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
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NEXT STEPS ..... ......
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Get Unprecedented Insight Into Your CollaboraBon PlaDorms . . . . . . . 26 ...
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. . . . reserved.
© 2019 Aware. Trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respecBve owners. All rights ... . . . TOC
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A Note From
Aware’s Head
Researcher
PEN, EFFICIENT communica<on However, the advantages of collabora<on We also find that toxic behavior is
drives innova<on in the modern plaEorms greatly outweigh any perceived rela<vely rare and is mostly driven by
workplace, where it can facilitate risk. Furthermore, the risks associated a small group of employees engaged
knowledge transfer and problem with collabora<on plaEorms are in private conversa<on.
solving, reduce uncertainty, and break manageable—certainly more so than

trying regulate inappropriate banter Ul<mately, this report provides insight
down geographic and managerial
around the water cooler. that we already know: human behavior
hierarchies.
is unpredictable. And despite the small
Yet, leaders s<ll hesitate to roll out digital The following report provides an popula<on of risky collabora<on users,
collabora<on technologies. ADer all, unprecedented glimpse into how organiza<ons need the ability to iden<fy
these plaEorms oDen encourage more employees communicate on enterprise toxic actors before they ruin company
informal communica<on, which can lead collabora<on plaEorms. culture.
to both good and bad behavior.
While much of the focus of the report As the idiom goes, one bad apple can
is on gauging risk, the results should also ruin a whole pie, or in this sense, your
provide encouragement to leaders organiza<onal health.
Execu<ves worry that employees will pushing for broader adop<on of
share confiden<al informa<on collabora<on tools. Some of the results Organiza<ons need to track the
(maliciously or not) with people they highlighted in the study are unsurprising. sen<ment and tone of both public
shouldn't; that these plaEorms will and private conversa<ons in order to
become conduits for harassment and For instance, scholars have long known get a true pulse on the health of their
other toxic behaviors; or that they will that small groups of heavy users oDen community and assess any areas of
just provide another, needless distrac<on drive communica<on networks, and we poten<al risk—and they need to do this
for employees already suffoca<ng under find the same thing: in our sample, efficiently without disrup<ng an already
the weight of email and text messages. approximately 25% of users author more overworked team.
than 80% of all messages.
Jason Morgan, PhD

VICE PRESIDENT OF BEHAVIORAL INTELLIGENCE
© 2019 Aware. Trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respec<ve owners. All rights reserved. 1
unpredi
cC tT aA Bb Ll Ee
LONG BEFORE THE DIGITAL ERA, major enterprise
organiza/ons across the globe focused on one common risk that
spanned every size of business and penetrated every industry …
Hh Uu m M aA nN
B E H AV I OR
behavior
INTRODUCTION
Unpredictable
Human Behavior
Today, as organiza=ons con=nue to undergo a massive
digital transforma=on and seek new ways to connect
employees, unpredictable human behavior s=ll weighs
on the minds of execu=ves, perhaps even more so than COMPANIES LEVERAGING DIGITAL
COLLABORATION GAINED
ever before.
31% Faster Time-to-Innova=on
AND DESPITE THE CLEAR BENEFITS of digital enterprise 25% Fewer Mee=ngs
collabora=on plaEorms such as Workplace by Facebook, MicrosoI 20% Higher Employee Reten=on
Teams, Yammer and Slack, organiza=ons some=mes hesitate to fully
15% Increased Produc=vity
implement these technologies. Leaders cite concerns around security
10% Revenue Growth
against insider threats, regulatory compliance and company policies.
Source: McKinsey Study, margolis.co.uk, 2016
With frequent data breaches and cloud storage infiltra=on, CIOs and
CISOs are rightly concerned. AIer all, 53% of data security incidents
in 2017 resulted from employees, including factors such as human
error. (BakerHostetler 2018 Data Security Incident Response Report)
Furthermore, leveraging digital enterprise collabora=on creates blind

spots within an organiza=on; that is, li]le to no visibility into areas of
shared content and conversa=ons amongst employees. This exposes
the organiza=on to poten=al threats such as data loss, inappropriate
workplace behavior (think: Uber) and damage to brand reputa=on.
© 2019 Aware. Trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respec=ve owners. All rights reserved. 3
INTRODUCTION
Poten9al Threats in Digital Collabora9on

To beAer understand the poten=al threats within organiza=onal
blind spots, we examined three overarching categories:
ment Sen9ment
Employee mood and feelings towards the company, culture,
and leadership, both posi=ve and nega=ve
Toxicity Toxicity
Unprofessional, harassing or discriminatory behavior
that can infiltrate an organiza=on
Insider Threats
Accidental, negligent or malicious actors who place
the organiza=on at risk of a breach
LET US BE CLEAR. At Aware, we love collabora9on and this Human

Behavior Risk Analysis Report is not intended to scare leaders nor
block the full implementa9on of enterprise collabora9on pla:orms.
The purpose of this report is to expose collabora9on blind spots,

and illustrate where technology—and rapid advancements in machine
learning, in par9cular—can play a key role in helping to understand
and manage collabora9on.
Aware offers full visibility into public and private

messages within enterprise collabora9on pla:orms
— helping your organiza9on eliminate blind spots.
HIGHLIGHTS
Observations & Key Findings

COLLABORATION PLATFORMS con=nue to gain
trac=on in workplaces around the globe.
EMPLOYEES TEND to communicate in a much

Nega7ve Nega7ve 1 of every 190 1 of every 280
more casual and candid manner on these tools
Conversa7ons Conversa7onsPublic Messages
Private Messages Private Messages Public Messages
than more tradi=onal plaForms (e.g. email). This
new source of communica=on data presents
your organiza=onPasswords Shared
an opportunity to not only Passwords Shared 1 in 149 1 in 262
beJer understand sen=ment, but also to Private Messages Public Messages
Private Messages Public Messages
monitor topics, keywords, and shared content
that gives your teams the informa=on they
Confiden7al Confiden7al 1 in 135 1 in 118
need to make beJer, more informed
Informa7on Shared decisions. PrivateInforma7on
Messages SharedPublic Messages
Private Messages Public Messages
Nega7ve Messages Live in the Dark Corners of Digital Collabora7on
43 %
ES IN PRIVATE GROUPS MESSAGES IN 1:1 CONVERSATIONS
MESSAGES IN PRIVATE GROUPS MESSAGES IN 1:1 CONVERSATIONS
Of all messages
are private
More likely to be Toxic
Of all
than messages
messages
are private
public
in a
environment
135% MoreMore
than
than
likelylikely
messages
public
public
to betoToxic
messages
environment
be Toxic
in ain a
environment
250% More likely to be Toxic
than messages in a
public environment
2 14
EXCLUSIVELY PRIVATE MESSENGERS EXCLUSIVELY PRIVATE MESSENGERS WORDS ASSOCIATED WITH SEX
out of
Moreevery
eople exclusively use
rivate communica7on
than
likely to be Toxic
People exclusively
messages
public
private
in a use
environment
communica7on
160% More likely to be Toxic
than messages in a
public environment
1 170
out of
every
Messages
And this includes
public messages!
IMAGINE
In an Organiza7on With 15,000 Employees …

MAKE NOTE THAT the people sending this
content could poten=ally harm workplace
produc=vity, and at worst, cause a major PR crisis
Alarming Messages
and open an organiza=on up to risk of legal ac=on.

Per Day 9
Employees Alarming
Sending Messages
Alarming Content
Per DayPer Day
to
1 2to Employees Sending
Alarming Content Per Day
SECTION ONE
Sentiment
SENTIMENT IS AN ATTITUDE, thought, or judgement
prompted by a feeling. A sen=ment analysis aims to
determine the aDtude of the author within a given
message. On an aggregate level, organiza=ons can
audit employee mood and feelings towards the
company, culture, and leadership.
The Impact of Sen6ment

Sen=ment impacts companies in profound ways. With an understanding
of employee opinion, leaders can beIer determine where to invest in company
culture, development, and workplace condi=ons, which in turn helps to:
Experience
Reduce
Boost
Employee
Brand Turnover
Reputa6on Improve Customer Experience Boost Brand Reputa6on
EMPLOYEES ARE EXPENSIVE, especially Sen=ment is a strong indicator of Employees are your strongest brand
new hires. Unhappy employees tend employee engagement and engaged advocates. They know the ins and outs
to leave companies and, even if not employees are more likely to improve of your organiza=on and its values. It
explicitly stated, their digital customer rela=onships, leading to a stands to reason that employees with
communica=ons can indicate hints 20% increase in sales (The State of a more posi=ve opinion towards a
of this sen=ment. By understanding the American Workplace). company speak more highly of the
employee opinion, companies can organiza=on when in the community
implement workplace processes, and within their network.
perks, or changes to keep employee
morale high.
SENTIMENT
The Power of Posi,vity

The majority of messages sent each day remain neutral, as scored by Aware’s
proprietary Sen=ment Model. This is expected, as digital collabora=on should
focus mainly on achieving efficiencies with work.
HOWEVER, approximately 1 of every When tracked over =me, organiza=ons By drilling down to specific business
5 private messages sent each day glean valuable insights regarding units or work groups, organiza=ons
score posi=vely; this might include employee reac=on to major can iden=fy problem areas that might
messages of praise for an outstanding announcements. Alterna=vely, leaders affect the en=re company—or find
team or excitement over a recent can iden=fy nega=ve trends quickly stellar groups to acknowledge and
ini=a=ve. This number grows to 1 out and search for a possible cause and use as role models.
of every 3 messages, when looking at appropriate solu=on.
public conversa=ons.
A N A LY Z E D B Y A W A R E ’ S E N T E R P R I S E A I
Message Sen,ment and Volume Over Time
Posi=ve Very Posi=ve
Posi=ve Posi=ve
Sen,ment
Neutral Neutral
Nega=ve Nega=ve
ega=ve Very Nega=ve
Volume Volume
Sen,ment
Jan Feb Mar Apr
Posi%ve messages, such as these, can help boost employee morale and overall produc%vity.
Actual Yammer Message Actual Yammer Message

Fantas=c work Team Nash!!! Loving the enthusiasm Thanks John, you’ve done a fantas=c job pulling
and passion for our new conversa=on framework and everything and everyone together. And well done to
very much looking forward to seeing you all in person Casey for producing such great ac=vi=es. It’s going
in coming weeks and hearing all about the great to be a great event, I’m just hoping with all the
customer outcomes you have been delivering :) excitement I remember to keep pos=ng and twee=ng!
SENTIMENT
Nega%vity Casts a Larger Shadow

While nega=ve messages comprise just 0.3% of the daily messages sent,
they oFen cast a much larger, darker shadow on an organiza=on.
LOOKING AT ac=ve contributors (those A N A LY Z E D B Y A W A R E ’ S E N T E R P R I S E A I
who sent 25 or more messages), the Distribu%on of People by Sen%ment

number of profiles with the most
nega=ve sen=ment metrics greatly
outweigh the users with the most
posi=ve sen=ment.
The nega=ve messages live in the dark

corners of digital collabora=on. In fact,
only 1 out of every 380 public
messages receives a nega%ve
Volume
sen%ment score. As expected, private

groups and conversa=ons are even
more likely to skew nega=vely—in fact,
1.5 %mes more likely. But when looking
at individuals who only communicate
via private messages (2 out of every 13
individuals), they are 245% more likely
to send nega=ve messages.
For an organiza=on with 15,000Very Nega=ve Very

Nega=ve
Nega=ve Neutral
Nega=ve Posi=ve
Neutral Very Posi=ve
Posi=ve Very Posi=ve
employees, this translates to Sen%ment

approximately 9 nega%ve, poten%ally-
harmful messages a day within public
and private conversa=ons. ACTUAL MESSAGES
Yes true… just being here shits me… they are all soo f*#king nega=ve.
Nine messages might not seem like
much in the way of volume, but without
understanding the context surrounding
I’m frustrated that everything I suggest or ques=on I get shut down and
it, or the content in the message, made to feel like I don’t ma]er anymore.
organiza=ons can’t iden=fy the true
detriment or cost to the workplace.
This is terribly sad and frustra=ng. Where is it and what measures were
put in place? Unless there is some evidence or strong leads on how the
leakage and fraud happened…
AWARE THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
The Challenge of the Annual

Employee Engagement Survey
HUMAN RESOURCES TEAMS commonly invest in
If you are making informed decisions If you are making informed decisions
employee engagement
on old informa3on, surveys
you are trying to annually, in order to on old informa3on, you are trying to
solve understand
new problems with old data. sentiment and perception solve new problems with old data.
better employee
of the workplace. However, this process is inefficient
Greg Moran Greg Moran
at best, and inherently flawed in a few respects…
Chief Opera<ng Officer Chief Opera<ng Officer
Un>mely Results, OBen Too Late to Take Ac>on

sed and Inaccurate
WITH THESEResponses
ONE-TIME SURVEYS, organiza<ons Biased and Inaccurate Responses
receive insights from snapshots of a single moment IN LARGE ENTERPRISE ORGANIZATIONS,
in <me. Organiza<ons then leverage this informa<on tradi<onal culture surveys oDen <e directly
to make business decisions for a full calendar year. or indirectly into employee evalua<ons and bonus pay.
In reality, organiza<onal Furthermore, the ini<al The availability of bonus These surveys also u<lize
sen<ment ebbs and flows insights are even naturally dollars or other incen<ves ques<ons shaped by Human
depending on events and delayed. Surveys need <me some<mes depends on an Resources professionals
the mood of the to collect employee increase in posi<ve and can lead to confusing
organiza<on. For example, responses once distributed. sen<ment at the company, language. Misinterpreta<on
a survey distributed soon Then, it takes addi<onal or even overall of the ques<ons may lead
aDer a company culture <me to compile and analyze improvement within a small employees to answer
event might yield very the responses. Human workgroup, for example. inaccurately, further
different results than if resources teams receive This leaves a lot of space for skewing the results.
employees took the same the results several weeks influence and bias, as teams Lastly, organiza<ons must
survey aDer a large lay-off. or months later, further encourage each other to determine if the survey even
And over a year’s <me, the diminishing the value respond to surveys in a asks the right ques<ons
accuracy of these surveys of the survey outcomes. posi<ve manner. As such, in order to get an accurate
inevitably diminishes. employees may choose not pulse of employee opinion
to respond honestly. towards the workplace.
How Natural Language Processing AI-Technology Can

Change the Face of Sen=ment Analyses
With a natural language processing solu<on, an AI-powered technology that
analyzes human language, organiza<ons can leverage the communica<on
data in their own ecosystem.
For example, by analyzing the paHerns in public and private messaging on

Yammer or Workplace by Facebook, organiza<ons can glean more
accurate and relevant employee insights than the tradi<onal annual survey
process.
=ment Near Real-Time Insights Allow Collabora=on PlaCorms and Sen=ment

n for More Timely Response Analysis: A Powerful Combina=on
BY MONITORING and analyzing communica<on COLLABORATION PLATFORMS CONTINUE to gain
data within your tech-stack, leaders pull insights trac=on in workplaces around the globe. Employees tend
whenever needed, analyzing the metric in near to communicate in a much more casual and candid manner
real-<me. With this insight, leaders can iden<fy on these tools than more tradi=onal plaCorms (e.g. email).
when sen<ment starts to slip, determine
poten<al causes based on context, and respond This new source of communica=on data presents your
before the situa<on inflames. organiza=on an opportunity to not only beQer understand
sen=ment, but also to monitor topics, keywords, and
shared content that gives your teams the informa=on
they need to make beQer, more informed decisions.
Aware by Aware’s AI-driven, proprietary sen=ment model

analyzes workplace communica=on and delivers a real-
=me sen=ment metric informed by both message content
and context. Therefore, leaders need only to check a
dashboard to keep a pulse on organiza=on sen=ment.
Led by Dr. Jason Morgan, Aware by Aware’s ar;ficial If they see an issue, they can inves=gate—bias free. With
intelligence models were built for the exclusive purpose shared content monitoring func=onality, the team can also
of analyzing enterprise interpersonal dynamics from real pull relevant messages and leverage addi=onal context
enterprise social graphs. to iden=fy the root of the sen=ment change.
SECTION TWO
toxicity
SEXUAL HARASSMENT, bullying, racial slurs – all of these are
examples of toxic behaviors. These distrac<ng behaviors make
peers feel unsafe, isolated, and harassed. And a toxic employee,
one whom engages in these ac<vi<es, is one of the worst
things that can infiltrate the workplace.
Toxicity is Contagious
TOXIC EMPLOYEES have a way of spreading their behavior to others’ around them, similar
to a nasty virus; crippling others morale, performance, and produc<vity. While not all
employees are toxic, all employees are capable of adop<ng toxic behaviors and people
who are close to a toxic employee are more likely to become toxic themselves.
Unprofessional
Discrimina=on General Harassing Discrimina=on
THE MESSAGE uses harsh language, The message contains off-color jokes The author expresses strong dislike
slurs, phrases or innuendo that is not or content that might offend a person of a person or group of people; the
appropriate for a work environment, or group; the message includes sexual message contains racial, religious
but wouldn’t necessarily qualify as innuendo that may be offensive to or sexual slurs towards a person
inappropriate in a personal seGng. others, but is not targeted at the or group; the message creates an
message recipient. unpleasant or hos<le situa<on,
possibly sexual in nature, par<cularly
ACTUAL MESSAGES
if the message is targeted at the
recipient or coworker.
WTF? Why is this greaseball goon
now involving himself in poli<cs?
…I feel like I’m always compared to I hope your halo doesn’t fall off when
that f**kwit. you’re riding the f*** out of my big fat
P.S. I think everyone has the xmas
shits luvbahahahahahaha
TOXICITY
The Impact of Toxicity in the Workplace

Most organiza<ons want to track and understand toxicity in the workplace.
Toxicity causes both the organiza<on and the employees to suffer:
POORLY MANAGED work groups Tracking individual employee Using these insights, organiza<ons
are generally 50% less produc<ve toxicity over <me can help iden<fy can dig deeper to understand why
and 44% less profitable according and differen<ate habitually toxic an individual might suddenly
to Gallup. And men who worked employees from those who begin exhibit toxic behaviors by looking
for toxic managers were 60% to trend more toxic than into the context around the toxic
more likely to suffer a heart aHack. previously. messages.
A N A LY Z E D B Y A W A R E ’ S E N T E R P R I S E A I
Message Toxicity and Volume Over Time
oxic Extremely Toxic
Toxic Toxic
Toxcity
Benign Benign
Healthy Healthy
Volume Volume
Toxcity
Jan Feb Mar Apr
TOXICITY
Toxicity in Private Messages

At one organiza=on an individual revealed his or her sexual orienta=on
and was subsequently harassed via private messages from colleagues.
USING THIS SCENARIO, if the harassment

con=nues over =me and goes unaddressed, the
vic=m might begin to feel unsafe and unwelcome
in theNo such thing
workplace, astoa disengagement
leading lesbian. and No such thing as a lesbian.
poten=ally toxic behavior.
However, if an organiza=on quickly iden=fies

the harassment, or begins to see that the vic=m Actual message a person sent to an openly gay employee
is trending nega=vely, leaders can intervene
appropriately.
ges in private
LIKELIHOOD OF A TOXIC MESSAGE OUR DATA REVEALS that messages in private
toxic groups are 135% more likely to be toxic
onversa1ons
Baseline Toxicity Public Baseline Toxicity & messages in private, one-to-one conversa1ons
n messages are 250% more likely to be toxic than messages
in a public se9ng.
Private Groups
+135 +135
% %
communicate Addi=onally, individuals who only communicate

are 160%Private One-to-One
s.
ConversaDons +250 +250
% % in private groups or conversa=ons are 160%
more likely to send toxic messages.
TOXICITY
Drugs, Sex and Other Not-Safe-for-Work Topics

With 43% of all messages occurring in private groups or conversa=ons,
organiza=ons face the poten=al for toxic messages to proliferate out of control.
IN ADDITION TO HARASSMENT, employers must ACTUAL MESSAGES

also deal with toxic behaviors such as drug usage,
discrimina=on, sexual misconduct and more. As
Well, I’m so proud you didn’t Well, I’m so proud you didn’t
expected, private messages are nearly 160% more
just look at my boobs. just look at my boobs.
likely to contain words associated with illicit and
pharmaceu=cal drugs.
Somewhat surprisingly, though, 1 out of every 170

I wouldn’t mind sharing my bed I wouldn’t mind sharing my bed
messages, including public messages, contains words
I wouldn’t mind waking up next I wouldn’t mind waking up next
associated with sex.
to you… to you…
In fact, 1 out of every 132 individuals sent a not-safe-

for-work (NSFW) or toxic message within the first
quarter of 2018.
In an organizaOon with 15,000 employees …

This translates to over 130 individuals per quarter
who sent a message that could poten=ally harm
workplace produc=vity, and at worst, cause a major PR
+130 +130 individuals per quarter
crisis and open an organiza=on up to risk of legal

ac=on.
The damage of
A toxic employee
RARELY A DAY goes by without a headline that reveals
misconduct or poor culture at a major enterprise
organiza=on. Depending on the offense, the impact
of toxic behavior varies widely, but regardless the
poten=al damage is significant.
Increased Risk Increased Risk
Lower Morale 80% Overlooked toxic behaviors, such as bullying or harassment,

can open a company up to legal risk. Unfortunately,
In a Gartner study, 80% of employees experienced
companies like Uber, Fox News, or Nike know all too well
less commitment to their workplace because of
the repercussions of turning a blind eye to toxic behavior.
a toxic employee.
Damaged Brand ReputaIon Damaged Brand ReputaIon

Higher Turnover 12% If a situa=on escalates to legal ac=on or becomes a press
Gartner found that 12% of employees have leO nightmare, organiza=ons face both financial and
an organiza=on en=rely due to a toxic coworker. organiza=onal costs to deal with li=ga=on, public rela=ons,
crisis management and brand reputa=on management.
IN MARCH 2018, Nike’s boys-club EARLY IN 2018, 100 Google

culture and the shortcomings of employees organized to combat
Performance Decline 30–40% the human resources department cyber bullying against employees.
was a topic of the na=onal The group demanded more well-
With the contagious nature of toxicity, having just conversa=on regarding how defined rules for internal forums,
one toxic employee in a group can bring down to address and expose these enforcement of rules, and
important issues. protec=on for targeted employees.
team performance by 30% to 40%.
Read the WSJ ar+cle Read the Reuters ar+cle
Ar#ficial Intelligence and Toxic Behaviors

The cost of a wounded culture cannot be understated, leading to
increased turnover, reduced produc=vity, and decreased brand sen=ment.
Protect your organiza=on, and its culture, by inves=ng the =me and
resources to minimize and remove toxic scenarios.
Iden#fy, Address Toxic Behaviors Determine an Ac#on Plan

FIRING A TOXIC EMPLOYEE can prove difficult IN A DIGITAL SITUATION, some tools, such as Aware,
due to the lack of “hard evidence” exposing the allow automa#on when viola#ons or other incidents occur.
behavior, yet these employees hurt the business.
For example, organiza#ons can set messages with a high
By leveraging ar=ficial intelligence, human level of sexual content to no#fy a human resources
resources teams can revolu=onize the way they representa#ve for follow up.
deal with toxic employees.
Alterna#vely, content with foul speech can trigger an
For example, they can monitor employee digital automated communica#on coaching the employee that
communica=ons—such as private or public the transmiOed word choice is inappropriate for work.
messages in MicrosoN Teams or Workplace
by Facebook—and automa=cally flag viola=ons Each organiza#on is unique, and therefore must determine
of predetermined company policies. the most appropriate response based on exis#ng
corporate culture. Most importantly, though, leaders must
This saves teams a significant amount of effort consistently communicate that the organiza#on will not
searching for evidence of a viola=on and creates tolerate toxic behavior.
more =me to determine an appropriate response.
SECTION THREE
Insider Threats
AccounBng for the Cost of an Insider Breach
Insider threats are one of the most prevalent threats in an
enterprise environment, and are difficult to mi=gate.
MANY OF THESE BREACHES result simply from human

error or negligence, rather than a malicious incident.
Private conversaBon messages are:
According to Ponemon1, the global average cost of a data
breach is $3.62 million, regardless of if the incident
stemmed from an inten=onal or accidental act.
Furthermore, an ar=cle in the Harvard Business Review

es=mates that 80 million insider aNacks occur annually,
144 % more likely
To contain confiden=al informa=on To contain confiden=al informa=on
a cost that amounts to more than $10 billion in fines,
penal=es, or opera=onal disrup=on. That doesn’t even
account for the unquan=fiable damage to an organiza=on’s
brand and credibility.
165 % more likely

“But … We Only
To Hire Good
contain People numbers
iden=fica=on in My OrganizaBon” To contain iden=fica=on numbers
Aware COO, Greg Moran says that “it is an inconvenient

truth that not everyone inside an enterprise is trustable,
despite all efforts to hire trustworthy employees.”
It’s tempBng to fall in the trap of thinking, but we hire good 6 x more likely
people here! We trust our employees. However, the truth
To use ‘password’ keywords To use ‘password’ keywords
is that nearly every organizaBon will have an employee
that is not acBng in the best interest of the company.
¹ 2017 Ponemon Cost of Data Breach Study, hNps://www.ibm.com/security/data-breach
INSIDER THREATS
Informa(on Sharing Is Easier, and More Reckless, Than Ever

AS EMPLOYEES become increasingly dependent
on digital tools for day-to-day communica=on, the
interac=ons become more casual and, at =mes, careless.
This creates even more space for breaches or sensi=ve
informa=on sharing.
More and more organiza=ons con=nue to adopt digital

collabora=on plaForms, but the real-=me sharing of
unstructured data within these tools creates a cri=cal
gap in the overall business security fabric.
While nearly all organiza=ons deploy security measures

and data loss protec=on (DLP) for email and internet
usage, few realize the blind spot created by using
collabora=on tools without proper monitoring
and governance in place.
Symantec’s 2018 Shadow Data Report
13% of all files stored in the cloud are broadly shared,

and 1% of these files contain compliance related data
18% of all PII, 13% of all PCI and 56% of all PHI shared
in the cloud is overexposed
68% of organiza=ons have some employees who exhibit

high-risk behavior in their cloud accounts (ac=vi=es such
as data destruc=on, data exfiltra=on, and account
takeovers)
INSIDER THREATS
Informa(on Is Shared Privately and Publicly

WHILE SOME of these messages might adhere
to industry regula<ons and company policy, your
organiza<on can’t dis<nguish appropriate use
versus poten<al leaks without some form of ACTUAL MESSAGES
monitoring capability in place—specifically
for collabora<on plaForms. Hi Josie, The password is - **********
If ABA balances were available anyone could

submit alloca<on trades with fake signatures
STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL -
PDF
SUBJECT TO– DRAFT.pdf
Can you send me the budget with the 2018

execu<ve compensa<on forecast?
nforma(on Shared? How OIen is Sensi(ve Informa(on Shared?
Private Public
Confiden(al
1 in 135 1 in 118
Informa(on
Passwords 1 in 149 1 in 262
Insider Threats and Workplace

Collaboration Platforms
AN INSIDER THREAT is a risk of breach that

comes from individuals within a given
organiza<on (e.g. employees). The risk level
with this type of threat is especially high
given the amount of access, knowledge,
and autonomy employees possess.
The truth is, inconveniently, people act one

way in formal mee<ngs and another way on
their company's digital collabora<on network.
And this inconvenient truth can add a layer

of risk, or a blind spot, for the organiza<on.
The Different Kinds of Insider Threats

As the technology of collabora<on pla@orms con<nue to gain
trac<on, the concern for insider threats grows.
NOT ALL INSIDER THREATS ARE THE SAME, though they all
present a danger to the organiza<on. The three basic types of
threats inside the workplace, and their alloca<on percentage, include:
24 % 45 % 31 %
Inadvertent
Malicious
Actors
Insiders Outsiders Malicious Insiders
Even when it comes to benevolent Outsiders could include 3LM party These are the evil-doers that we oGen
employees, there is s<ll the risk of contractors who possess some degree picture when speaking about insider
insider threats simply from employee of access to the workplace networks. threats. These employees either enter
negligence. OGen, employees don’t Unfortunately, some of the most an organiza<on with the inten<on
understand when their behavior, such devasta<ng data breaches in recent of causing some sort of breach or
as sending a sensi<ve document over years happened via third party vendors. damage, or become a disgruntled
a public company channel, is risky. employee who commits the act
For example, in April of this year, on their way out the door.
These well-meaning employees benefit hackers targeted third-party sellers
from trainings regarding safe workplace on Amazon.com to post fake deals
behaviors. and steal cash.
Mi#gate the Risk of Insiders With Workplace Monitoring

The casual, threaded communica<ons on collabora<on plaBorms con<nue
to gain trac<on and, in some scenarios, replace email completely.
COLLABORATION PLATFORMS offer many posi<ve

aDributes, such as cross-func<onal communica<on, quick
distribu<on of informa<on, and increased workplace
connec<vity—all of which can lead to increased
produc<vity and profits. However, it’s <me to take the
inherent risks of these communica<on plaBorms seriously.
There are more casual and chaDy conversa<ons in a

Yammer mul<-company group or Workplace private
message seMng than in an email conversa<on, for
example. This creates a scenario where inadvertent
actors may accidentally and negligently share sensi<ve
data because they put something in wri<ng they wouldn’t
ordinarily email to a colleague. Unfortunately, this also
creates more space for malicious insiders to pray on
those inadvertent actors.
Today, nearly all organiza<ons monitor employee email

communica<ons with some sort of data loss preven<on
(DLP) solu<on. In fact, as of April 2017, 78% of major
companies now monitor employees’ use of email, internet,
or phone. It’s <me now to add a monitoring and
compliance solu<on created specifically for the unique
ecosystem of digital collabora<on.
CONCLUSION
Collaboration Tools
& Human Behavior Risk
As with any emerging technology, introducing tools like
MicrosoC Teams, Yammer or Workplace by Facebook
exposes organiza=ons to some inherent risks.
THESE PLATFORMS house more informal, frequent

correspondences in both private and public forums. Our research
very clearly shows that employees do, in fact, behave differently
in a public versus private digital environment, and this does introduce
a new set of poten=al risks to the enterprise security ecosystem.
The most unpredictable risk of them all impacts both company

security and organiza=onal health: human behavior.
Choose Secure Collabora=on

WE’LL BE the first to say—at Aware— Some=mes the task of problem-solving At Aware, we believe in this so strongly
we love collabora=on and are for risk mi=ga=on makes it temp=ng to that we created a solu=on that
exhilarated for the future of the digital say no to adop=ng collabora=on tools. mi=gates human behavior risk, while
workplace. We believe in the impact However, that could ul=mately cost also tapping into a plethora of
of increased cross-func=onal your organiza=on greatly in lost employee collabora=on content in
communica=on, enabled innova=on, produc=vity. That’s why we seek to order to offer real-=me insights to the
and real-=me informa=on sharing. serve as collabora=on ‘unblockers’ organiza=on.
for enterprises around the globe
and refuse to let risk halt innova=on
and progress.
GAIN VISIBILITY INTO EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATIONS
The Monitoring & Compliance Solution

For Enterprise Collaboration
Dr. Freeman PHI
3/21/90 is the dob for pa:ent Gina Smothers
Aware seamlessly integrates with
Microsoft Yammer, Teams, and
Workplace by Facebook. Mel Fargo PCI
My corp card number is 3456 8923 9328 2300 exp 10/21 cv 338
The solution delivers exceptional

visibility into shared employee
HR
Harvey W. Stein
content (both private and public);
Want to come back to my hotel room and get the big O
enables compliance with
regulations such as GDPR, HIPPA,
and FINRA; and facilitates safe Pat Lauer Threat
collaboration by monitoring shared You beAer not show anyone this or you’ll be fired …
files and materials for insider

threats, harassment and more.
Stephen Jobs Leak
did you hear about our lfl sales for last qtr? Up 22% (keep that to yourself)
A"ain Ac(onable, Near Real-Time Insights

Enterprise leaders deserve tools that provide value, making decision-
making simpler. That’s why the Aware plaEorm not only enables
enhanced visibility, but also leverages a proprietary AI-infused model
to offer truly ac=onable insights from the vast amount of unstructured
data housed within an enterprise collabora=on program.
Insights come from behavior metrics like:

Respond Effec(vely
e Sen(ment Score
WITH A DATA BREACH or workplace toxicity, it’s not enough
A measurement of the mood and
to simply know of the issue. An appropriate, (mely response
feelings of employees towards the
can make or break your organiza(on’s reputa(on.
company, culture, and leadership.
That’s why Aware by Aware allows leaders to configure

ore Toxicity Score custom policies in order to iden(fy and respond to incidents
A measurement of distrac=ng within the collabora(on environment.
behaviors that make peers feel
unsafe, isolated, and/or harassed. This might include automa(cally dele(ng sensi(ve file-
sharing (e.g. informa(on breach), aler(ng a leader of
inappropriate content (e.g. sexual harassment), or simply
Insider Threat Score sending the offending employee a pre-composed coaching
The level of risk presented by communica(on regarding the infrac(on.
individuals within the organiza=on
of a poten=al breach; this includes
both inadvertent or malicious actors.
Achieve Wall-to-Wall Adop<on When You Cut the Red Tape

Successful adop=on of collabora=on plaMorms, like Workplace by Facebook,
results in faster =me-to-innova=on, fewer silos and increased produc=vity.
As with any new technology solu=on, stakeholders—such as HR, legal,

compliance or infosecurity—may voice risk or compliance concerns during
the introduc=on phase. Unless properly addressed, human behavior risk
can block a successful wall-to-wall adop=on of collabora=on.
Respond Effec<vely
WITH A DATA BREACH or workplace toxicity, it’s not enough to simply
know of the issue. An appropriate, <mely response can make or break
your organiza<on’s reputa<on.
That’s why Aware allows leaders to configure custom policies in order

to iden<fy and respond to incidents within the collabora<on environment.
This might include automa<cally dele<ng sensi<ve file-sharing

(e.g. informa<on breach), aler<ng a leader of inappropriate content (e.g. sexual
harassment), or simply sending the offending employee a pre-composed
coaching communica<on regarding the infrac<on.
ARE YOU AWARE?
Request a Free 30-Minute Demo

Learn how you can iden=fy and respond to human behavior risk in your organiza=on.
Request Free Demo
844.433.3326 hello@AwareHQ.com AwareHQ.com/assessment

ABOUT AWARE & CONTACT INFO
About Aware
Aware delivers secure collaboraDon, monitoring and governance
for enterprise organizaDons deploying today’s leading collaboraDon
and messaging plaMorms, including MicrosoO Teams, MicrosoO
Yammer®, and Workplace by Facebook.
Aware encourages and facilitates safe collaboraDon and compliance

by monitoring files and conversaDons, as well as prevenDng
communicaDon that could place organizaDons at risk.
The editors of Columbus Business First recently named Aware one

of the Best Places to Work in Columbus, and leading research analyst
firm CB Insights cited Aware as a leading early stage cybersecurity
startup to watch in the Insider Threat DetecDon category.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT:
Our Website | AwareHQ.com

For up-to-date details on products, case studies and blog posts.
Twi6er | @Aware_HQ
Get 6mely ar6cles and conversa6ons around collabora6on and security.
LinkedIn | linked.com/company/AwareHQ
Follow for networking opporuni6es, job openings and industry news.
Press Contact | markeDng@AwareHQ.com

Reach out for anything you need to report on Aware.
Anything Else | hello@AwareHQ.com

Contact us for product demos, partnership opportuni6es, and sales.
Aware HQ
111 Liberty Street, Suite 102
Columbus, OH 43215-5656
© 2019 Aware. Trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respec6ve owners. All rights reserved. 27

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M AY 2 0 1 9

The Human Behavior Risk Analysis

My corp card number is

A Note From Aware’s Head Researcher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

INTRODUCTION About the Human Behavior Risk

SECTION ONE: SENTIMENT

SECTION TWO: TOXICITY

solving, reduce uncertainty, and break manageable—certainly more so than

Jason Morgan, PhD

Source: McKinsey Study, margolis.co.uk, 2016

Furthermore, leveraging digital enterprise collabora=on creates blind

Poten9al Threats in Digital Collabora9on

LET US BE CLEAR. At Aware, we love collabora9on and this Human

The purpose of this report is to expose collabora9on blind spots,

Aware oﬀers full visibility into public and private

Observations & Key Findings

EMPLOYEES TEND to communicate in a much

Nega7ve Messages Live in the Dark Corners of Digital Collabora7on

In an Organiza7on With 15,000 Employees …

and open an organiza=on up to risk of legal ac=on.

The Impact of Sen6ment

The Power of Posi,vity

Message Sen,ment and Volume Over Time

Posi=ve Very Posi=ve

ega=ve Very Nega=ve

Jan Feb Mar Apr

Actual Yammer Message Actual Yammer Message

Nega%vity Casts a Larger Shadow

LOOKING AT ac=ve contributors (those A N A LY Z E D B Y A W A R E ’ S E N T E R P R I S E A I

who sent 25 or more messages), the Distribu%on of People by Sen%ment

The nega=ve messages live in the dark

sen%ment score. As expected, private

For an organiza=on with 15,000Very Nega=ve Very

employees, this translates to Sen%ment

The Challenge of the Annual

Un>mely Results, OBen Too Late to Take Ac>on

How Natural Language Processing AI-Technology Can

For example, by analyzing the paHerns in public and private messaging on

=ment Near Real-Time Insights Allow Collabora=on PlaCorms and Sen=ment

Aware by Aware’s AI-driven, proprietary sen=ment model

The Impact of Toxicity in the Workplace

Message Toxicity and Volume Over Time

oxic Extremely Toxic

Jan Feb Mar Apr

Toxicity in Private Messages

USING THIS SCENARIO, if the harassment

However, if an organiza=on quickly iden=ﬁes

communicate Addi=onally, individuals who only communicate

Drugs, Sex and Other Not-Safe-for-Work Topics

IN ADDITION TO HARASSMENT, employers must ACTUAL MESSAGES

Somewhat surprisingly, though, 1 out of every 170

In fact, 1 out of every 132 individuals sent a not-safe-

In an organizaOon with 15,000 employees …

crisis and open an organiza=on up to risk of legal

Increased Risk Increased Risk

Lower Morale 80% Overlooked toxic behaviors, such as bullying or harassment,

Damaged Brand ReputaIon Damaged Brand ReputaIon

IN MARCH 2018, Nike’s boys-club EARLY IN 2018, 100 Google

Ar#ﬁcial Intelligence and Toxic Behaviors

Iden#fy, Address Toxic Behaviors Determine an Ac#on Plan

MANY OF THESE BREACHES result simply from human

Furthermore, an ar=cle in the Harvard Business Review

165 % more likely

Aware COO, Greg Moran says that “it is an inconvenient