What is Human Risk Management?

Risk assessment is an essential part of a holistic cybersecurity strategy. However, human risk cuts across every aspect of an organization, from technology to processes to people; each area has its unique take on risk and needs varying processes and technologies to mitigate it. The people part of risk management is one of the most critical and complex. As such, the human in the machine has been an increasingly influential part of a cybersecurity strategy and must be included to achieve a robust security posture.

Analyst firm Forrester predicts that in 2024, 90% of cyber-attacks will exploit human beings. Companies worldwide must tackle the growing risk of human-centric cyber-attacks by applying Human Risk Management.

Here, TitanHQ explores the risks humans bring to the cybersecurity landscape and how human risk management can help alleviate those risks.

What are the Risks that Come with Human-Centric Security Attacks?

Cybercriminals have become masters of manipulating the vulnerable. As well as exploiting flaws in software, like security bugs, attackers will look for chinks in human behavior. For example, an employee who clicks on a link in a phishing email is being exploited by cybercriminals. You can't blame that employee; the "urge to click" is an inherent part of using digital technology; we are trained to recognize clickable areas on a webpage. Automatic behaviors like this are highly exploitable unless this risk is identified and mitigated.

Types of Human-Centric Risk

Human risk comes in many forms, and the exploitation of human risk as a vector is continually updated as new technology, like AI, enters the landscape. Some examples of typical risks an enterprise is likely to experience include:

Social Engineering

Attackers are experts at manipulating human behavior. Many scams begin with social engineering, where an attacker tricks a person into doing something that benefits the hacker. For example, an attacker may need some sensitive information to carry out an attack. The cybercriminal will use a variety of tactics to get at the information, including phone calls and emails, to develop a trusted relationship with the victim.

One of the ways that social engineering attacks take place is through phishing emails or other forms of messaging.

Phishing and Spear Phishing

Phishing emails can be sent as general spam or targeted messages tailored to an individual. The latter may have been perfected through earlier social engineering and intelligence gathering. Generative AI is now commonly used to perfect these phishing emails. The resultant spear-phishing or targeted phishing email will be hard to detect without awareness training.

Low-Tech Social Engineering

Pretexting, tailgating, and other forms of social engineering are often low-tech. A tailgater may follow someone as they enter a restricted building area to gain access to sensitive information. Pretexting involves creating a story to engage and build trust to manipulate an employee. A study found that 80% of cyber-liability claims were associated with employee negligence and rogue employees.

Read more on Social Engineering Awareness Training.

Accidents and Errors

Targeted cyber-attacks and low-tech social engineering are two areas of risk, but we must remember the dangers of human error. Accidental data leaks are common. The 2024 Verizon Data Breach Investigation Report (DBIR) found that 68% of breaches involve non-malicious human error.

All the risks associated with humans can be de-risked by employing a Human Risk Management (HRM) process.

What is Human Risk Management?

The often-cited quotation "To err is human" captures what Human Risk Management is all about: We are all fallible. This truth drives the processes behind HRM. Fundamental to HRM is the ability to measure risk. That is, the level of vulnerability an organization is exposed to by its staff from cybercriminals and human error. Understanding the level of risk and how risk enters an organization provides the building blocks to manage those risks effectively. Even beginning to de-risk human-centric cybersecurity issues improves a company's security posture.

How is Human Risk Measured?

HRM is a data-driven approach to mitigating risk and improving security posture. The data used by Human Risk Management tools provides insights into the most significant security risks, guidance on how best to prevent these risks, and where to target the preventative measures. But how do you generate the data, and what does the data show?

The data needed to evaluate the level of risk related to human-centric security reveals who, what, and when a human-centric risk enters a process. The data collection techniques vary from solution to solution, but advanced offerings will use multiple methods. It is essential to recognize that risk data is not static; it changes over time with employee awareness of risk and the changing cyber-threat landscape.

Measuring human security behaviors helps organizations identify areas of weakness, where to focus their efforts, and which employees are most likely to engage in risky behaviors.

Some examples of data generation capabilities include the following:

Baseline Assessment and Security Knowledge Tests

Employees and other stakeholders are given a cyber awareness knowledge test. The test is repeated using cybersecurity training methods and content to reassess training effectiveness and employee risk behavior over time. The results of the tests provide insight into the level of risk and help determine the need for critical changes in security approach.

Simulated Phishing Exercises

Simulated or fake phishing is an effective way to train people to spot even the most sophisticated attempts at phishing and social engineering. Simulated phishing platforms provide all the tools and templates needed to create realistic phishing exercises to teach employees about the dangers of phishing. However, fake phishing campaigns are also used to generate risk data. Information is collected at the individual and role levels. This level of granular data collects metrics on risk levels around click rate, open rate, compromise rate, time taken to click a link, etc.

An essential thing to note is that the metrics obtained from these simulated phishing attacks do not indicate failure. They must be used proactively to encourage the improvement of risky security behavior. As such, the data is used to modify the training to ensure that educational measures, like interactive training, are used effectively.

Advanced security awareness training solutions offer a broad range of awareness activity metrics to optimize training modules. This optimization capability turns security awareness training into Human Risk Management.

How can an Organization Reduce Human-Centric Security Risk?

Security awareness training (SAT) has come a long way in a short time. Once SAT was classroom-based, with tutors delivering dry, often dull lessons, the discipline is now dynamic, interactive, and fun. At the heart of security awareness training and Human Risk Management lies a change in risky security behaviors. But human behavior can be stubborn. However, human beings have been shown to respond more favorably to education that is based on positivity and the use of gamification.

Advanced security awareness solutions use positive feedback and gamification to ensure that risky behaviors can be changed. An organization effectively de-risks the human element of cyber-security threats by teaching people what a dangerous thing to do and how to avoid these risks going forward.

However, a security awareness training program must be personalized, interactive, and behavior-driven to change risky behavior. Security awareness is a process that draws upon content such as videos, group activities, and simulated phishing exercises. This process is not a one-off. Instead, the training must be carried out regularly to ensure that good behaviors persist and to educate employees on any changes in the threat landscape.

Practical security awareness training promotes a security culture based on a security-first mindset, which leads to risk management and a robust security posture.

A Culture of Security to Manage Risk

Human society is built upon culture, a collection of beliefs, social norms, and behaviors. By creating a culture based on understanding the importance of security, a company naturally reduces cyber risk. A robust security culture is built upon employees' knowledge of potential risks and their role as vital stakeholders in their company's defense—this is often referred to as a "human firewall."

The fundamental building block of a culture of security is a "Behavioral Security Model." The model is built upon several pillars covering:

• Positive Security Behavior: Instilling positivity, not punishing - people respond best to positive mechanisms when learning. Behavior-driven security awareness training uses positive feedback to help learners learn.
• Continuous Learning: Regular trying sessions ensure that important behaviors are not forgotten and positive behavior is reinforced.
• Employee Empowerment: Having the knowledge to respond effectively empowers employees.
• Tone-at-the-Top: The board, C-level, and management must take security seriously and encourage and lead on a security-first mindset.

Central to the Behavioral Security Model is the human actor - an employee or other business stakeholder. The model recognizes that a sustainable security culture is achieved when employees are proactive participants in risk management.

By basing Human Risk Management on a behavior-driven proactive model, a company no longer waits, unprotected, for an imminent attack. Instead, employees are ready and fully armed to prevent human-centric cyber threats from becoming full-blown attacks. In this way, a security culture empowers employees to detect and report threats and become advocates for security. Employees become part of a "security-enabled society," where the norm is to protect, not react, and individuals are equipped to act against threats.

Power to the People

The positive reinforcement created by behavior-led security awareness training empowers employees to prevent cyber-attacks proactively. This creates a proactive security culture with individuals controlling the impact of human-centric cyber threats. Security education equips people to act against those threats.

How to Implement Human Risk Management

Security awareness training aims to change risky security behaviors through knowledge and empowerment. Managing this risk using data becomes Human Risk Management. HRM is implemented using behavior-led security awareness training that strengthens employee security behaviors. These metrics quantify human risk and are used to modify and optimize security awareness training. The type of features found in behavior-led security awareness training for Human Risk Management include the following:

Data-Driven Platform

The security awareness training platform must be able to generate and analyze data from training sessions. These data form the basis of Human Risk management decisions.

A Unified Platform

The SAT platform must be a unified solution controlled by a single pane of glass. Training materials, sessions, simulated phishing exercises, and regular session management must be controlled centrally. A central console will allow the qualification and quantification of security behaviours, generating actionable reports.

Behavior-Led Awareness Training

The key to reducing human security risk is to change risky security behaviors. Security awareness training sessions must be designed to address these behaviors. Behavior-led security awareness training applies psychology theories of human behavior using digital technologies. Practical training methods include engaging content and interactive training sessions with targeted feedback.

Targeted Awareness Training

Employees must be trained based on their level of risk. Each employee is assessed to baseline their needs and then in the future. The metrics from assessments, tests, and simulated phishing are used to tailor specific programs that optimize behavior on an individual basis.

Automation

Security campaign automation is a time-saving device that ensures that all-important awareness campaigns happen regularly. The setup and deployment of regular training sessions, metric collection and analysis, and reporting take time and resources, increasing the program's cost. Security awareness training automation optimizes costs by reducing the time needed to set up and implement security awareness campaigns. Automation ensures that HRM receives accurate and current data.

The Future of Human Risk Management

Human beings are in a maelstrom of cyber threats. Cybercriminals focus on the exploitation of human behavior, seeing impressive results. Business Email Compromise (BEC), Ransomware, and data breaches typically use social engineering and phishing to execute attacks. Human errors, too, cause data leaks and cause companies to fail to comply with data protection laws.

However, conventional security awareness and training is changing to encompass Human Risk Management (HRM) to counter the human-centric nature of cyber risk. This paradigm in security awareness focuses on detecting and measuring human risk. This data-led approach ensures more effective security awareness training that cements a security culture, empowering your employees to prevent attacks and de-risk your organization.

Remediate Risk with Automated Security Awareness Training!

Traditional security awareness training programs no longer measure up. Maintaining them requires significant effort, yet they don't enhance security. With TitanHQ SAT, you enjoy a hands-off, set-and-forget experience. Our security experts continually design and schedule security training for your users. With TitanHQ SAT you can enable your employees to recognize and report cyber threats through engaging, contextual, and narrative-driven lessons fully managed by TitanHQ. Campaign management and reporting happen automatically in the background.

Want to learn more? Sign up for a demo, and we'll show you TitanHQ SAT in action.