Asset Discovery Audit

The subject exploits their technical role to deploy or manipulate automated bots within the organization’s environment—most commonly within collaboration platforms (e.g., Slack, Teams, Discord) or internal operational systems (e.g., Jira, ServiceNow, Helpdesk tooling). These bots are designed to persist beyond the subject’s tenure, leveraging independent service credentials (or other credentials not specifically associated to a user), webhook integrations, or unattended workflows to maintain covert access.

The subject may create new bots under the guise of legitimate productivity enhancements, or hijack existing integrations to expand data access, redirect output, or embed hidden monitoring functionality. Once active, these bots operate continuously, harvesting internal conversations, extracting files, or polling sensitive endpoints—often without triggering standard audit alerts tied to user accounts.

Because automation accounts are rarely subject to the same identity governance or offboarding scrutiny as human users, this technique enables long-term persistence, broad data visibility, and operational concealment, facilitating continued access or covert surveillance after the subject’s departure.

The subject accesses or uses a corporate hardware asset, typically a laptop or other endpoint device, that is not assigned to them by role, provisioning, or inventory records. This behavior often emerges in environments with weak asset lifecycle controls, during periods of staff transition, or when hardware is reissued informally without updating allocation systems.

Subjects may obtain unassigned hardware through dormant inventory, “loaner” pools, peer handoffs, or by reactivating previously deprovisioned devices. Use of unassigned hardware circumvents standard monitoring, ownership attribution, and access governance. It may be leveraged to evade visibility, perform preparatory actions, or compartmentalize risky activity away from their primary, monitored device.

Investigators should view such access as a strong early indicator of potential infringement(s), particularly when associated with stale or unmanaged hardware, elevated privilege configuration, or the absence of endpoint telemetry.

The subject exploits circumstances for personal gain, convenience, or advantage, often without premeditation or major malicious intent. Opportunistic acts typically arise from perceived gaps in oversight, immediate personal needs, or desires, rather than long-term ideological, financial, or revenge-driven motivations.

Characteristics

• Motivated by immediate self-interest rather than deep-seated grievance or ideology.
• May rationalize actions as minor, justified, or harmless ("no one will notice," "this helps everyone," "it's not a big deal").
• Often triggered by environmental factors such as poor oversight, operational stress, or unmet personal needs.
• May escalate over time if not detected and corrected early.
• Subjects often do not view themselves as "threat actors" and may retain a positive view of their organization.
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Example Scenario

Senior enlisted personnel on a U.S. Navy warship collaborated to procure and install unauthorized satellite internet equipment (Starlink) to improve their onboard quality of life. Acting without command approval, they circumvented Navy IT security protocols, introducing significant operational security (OPSEC) risks. Their motive was personal convenience rather than espionage, sabotage, or financial gain.

A subject provisions cloud-based resources without prior authorization or a documented business justification. This unauthorized activity may circumvent established governance, security, or cost-management controls, potentially exposing the organization to operational, financial, or regulatory risk.

The subject accesses a corporate hardware asset, most commonly a laptop or corporate mobile device, after their employment has formally ended. This typically occurs due to gaps in deprovisioning, delayed hardware recovery, or the subject physically retaining the device despite offboarding procedures. Post-termination access may be opportunistic or intentional, and may precede or coincide with data exfiltration, sabotage, or unauthorized continuation of internal access.

This sub-section is relevant in cases where the hardware asset is no longer linked to an active identity in HR systems but remains technically functional and capable of network, VPN, or service access. Such access undermines the assumption that termination alone revokes operational capability and may point to procedural drift in IT, HR, or facilities handover workflows.