An Empirical Study on Insider Threats Towards Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) : A Student Case Study

In this research paper, we examine the framework of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) to investigate the potential association between social engineers and an insider threat actors at Université Nouveaux Horizons (UNH) in Lubumbashi,  in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Students use social engineering techniques to get access by convincing their colleagues, who become insider threat actors, to share their student ID cards to get access to school premises. In comparison, social engineers employ psychological manipulation to exploit human behavior, whereas insider threat actors utilize their authorized access to carry out harmful actions. Attempting to evaluate the impact of social engineering through insider threat actors in a crime prevention through an environmental design solution by scrutinizing the organization’s physical and social environment. This involves examining data from existing access control system and system monitoring practices related to information security to identify possible vulnerabilities that could be exploited. This research clarifies the mechanisms by which a social engineer can evolve into an insider threat actions and recommends preventive measures based on CPTED strategies to reduce these vulnerabilities. By integrating insights from criminology, psychology, and organizational behavior, this investigation deepens our grasp of insider threat actors and offers practical advice for enhancing organizational security. The study employs binary logistic regression analysis to explore the influence of gender, method of entry, student classification, and faculty associated on a status as threat or not. The findings reveal notable impacts of gender, entry method and student category with a significance level of 5%, while the affiliation of the faculty does not demonstrate a significant effect.