Human Risk Management: The “Weakest Link” Emerges as Key to Cybersecurity

With technology front and center in virtually all business processes, it may seem counterintuitive to suggest that today’s greatest cybersecurity risks don’t stem from technology, but from people. It’s widely recognized that people pose the greatest risk to data and security. This truth stems from the fact that human risks are much more challenging to manage than those risks related to technology, which can largely be controlled through technology.  

The reason: Humans are unpredictable, biased, variable, impatient, impulsive, naïve and… well, let’s just say that the list could go on for quite a while longer. 

The fallibility of humans when it comes to technological security is now widely recognized. In fact, “human risk management” has emerged as a new concept focused on understanding and alleviating the risks that humans represent. 

HRM vs. Security Awareness Training 

Human risk management (HRM) is an overarching concept that encompasses security awareness training but is different from user training. Security awareness training empowers human risk management. 

We can think of HRM as the identification, assessment and overall management of human-related vulnerabilities within an organization. HRM involves actions like policy creation and enforcement, behavioral analysis, technology-based behavior sharping and ongoing monitoring. At its core, HRM is real-time, context-aware and individual. It is powerful, flexible and adaptive. 

Security awareness supports these efforts by providing employees with the information, education, resources and support needed to make informed decisions and identify suspicious activities. It’s a team effort approach that helps employees become active allies in cybersecurity efforts.  

Organizations need both, of course — an overarching approach to data security that encompasses systems, policies, processes and oversight, and ongoing awareness training to ensure employees are continually educated and informed. 

Following are five proactive steps that can help to mitigate human risk and empower employees to be a critical layer of defense against cybersecurity attacks. 

1. Position Employees as a Critical (and Valued) Security Layer 

When you adopt the perspective that HRM is a critical mandate for your organization to combat cybersecurity risks, users become the focus of your efforts. You know that. But do they? 

An important first step is to position employees as a human security system, which requires informing them of the important role they play. Don’t perpetuate the idea that technology is your first line of defense and that firewalls, endpoint protection and other techno-efforts have you fully protected. Ensure that teams recognize their impact — positive and, potentially, negative. 

2. Focus on Security Culture

Just as companies strive to focus on establishing strong customer-focused cultures, quality cultures, or safety cultures, they should be focused on creating a resilient security culture. That can involve a wide range of activities that start when employees are first hired and continue through orientation, ongoing communication and education, coaching and counseling, feedback and support and two-way feedback. 

Importantly, it’s not the job of your IT department, or CIO, to protect company systems and customer data — it’s everyone’s responsibility.  

Leaders need to convey through their words and actions that they not only support a strong security culture but that they exemplify it.  

3. Educate and Inform — Continuously 

Awareness training is a critical component of human risk management but it’s not a one-and-done effort and it needs to go beyond onboarding and annual training updates. 

Consider that: 

  • Employees are coming and going at all times, meaning that your workforce is never 100% fully prepared to protect your cybersecurity interests. 
  • Employees are also focused on other aspects of their work and home lives. In other words, they’re often distracted.  
  • The security environment changes continually with new risks — and new opportunities to thwart those risks. 

Ongoing training and education in the form of both live (synchronous) and on-demand (asynchronous) delivery is critical to maintain constant vigilance.  

4. Be Nimble, Be Quick 

Cybersecurity threats continually emerge and evolve. Companies must be alert, nimble and prompt to ensure ongoing protection through both technological and human protection.  

But don’t infer that this means the onus falls on your security team. Put power behind your cybersecurity efforts by enlisting the entire organization to be alert to threats and sharing what they learn internally. Putting more eyes and ears behind security efforts can help the business stay on top of emerging trends and new risks. 

5. Measure, Monitor, Recognize, Reward 

Are your HRM efforts having an impact? There’s no way to know if you don’t have metrics in place to continually monitor performance against established and quantitative, goals and objectives. Your actual metrics should be aligned with your organizational priorities, risks and identified security gaps, but some commonly used metrics include: 

  • Results from mock phishing simulations. 
  • Incident reporting rates. 
  • Frequency of security breaches. 
  • Training participation and completion rates.  

You can (and should) also map out your most critical security-related behaviors and identify methods for tracking those behaviors. All of these metrics should be trended over time to identify areas of improvement and areas of opportunity for continued focus.  

Part of the process of measuring and monitoring should also include recognizing and rewarding employees for their efforts. Celebrate your wins and call attention to those who have been especially vigilant and supportive of cybersecurity efforts.  

It’s not just what gets measured that gets managed — what gets rewarded does too. 

Effective human risk management goes beyond mere compliance or awareness — it involves fostering a culture where security is ingrained in everyday behaviors. Use metrics that not only capture awareness but also reflect genuine behavioral change and cultural integration.

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