Human Risk Management

What is human risk management?

Human risk management (HRM) is a holistic approach to cyber security focused on first identifying, then quantifying, managing, and ultimately, reducing the human risk that organizations face. This human risk can exist from external sources, but the main focus of HRM is internal threats. HRM prioritizes identifying and then monitoring the behavior of the users that pose the most risk. Through this approach, security teams can prioritize the users who need the most training and monitoring, since security awareness programs can’t take a one-size-fits-all approach. HRM seeks to create a security-positive culture where safe behavior becomes second nature.

Understanding human risk

Human risk is defined as the potential for an individual’s actions to disrupt or cause harm to an organization, whether intentional or not, whether originating internally or externally. Also known as human error, human risk represents an area of renewed focus for a cyber security industry that continually works to stay ahead of adversaries. With broad attacks stopped more easily and frequently by AI-based security tools, cybercriminals have shifted focus to targeted attacks designed to take advantage of human error. Organizations must adapt to stop this growing human risk.

Why do organizations have to manage human risk?

Organizations must manage human risk in order to remain secure in the face of today’s cyberattacks which seek to target the most vulnerable employees within an organization – the ones for whom security awareness training has not been as effective – who are most likely to click unsafe links, download unsafe files, or fall victim to business email compromise.

Organizations that do not manage human risk leave themselves vulnerable to employee error, ethical issues, poor cyber security practices, and poor or ineffective cyber security training.

Why is human risk management important for cyber security?

HRM seizes on the latest technology available in the cyber security industry. It focuses resources on the most vulnerable users that tend to cause the most security incidents. It allows organizations to make the most effective use of their security tools. HRM gives security teams the tools they need to measure, predict, and manage the risk presented by their users. With HRM, organizations can identify early indictors of compromise, future vulnerabilities, and risk outcomes.

Benefits of human risk management

HRM is designed to prevent the evolving and sophisticated threats targeting human error within organizations. HRM offers preventative controls and the ability to take direct actions that mitigate the risk associated with human behavior such as clicking a link that downloads malware, opening malicious attachments, or visiting a website with malicious content. HRM marks an important and eagerly anticipated milestone in advancement toward the next generation of cybersecurity. Brought on by continued employee mistakes and user errors, HRM will provide unprecedented visibility into an organization’s risk profile, scoring users by risk and allowing CISOs to educate and protect the riskiest part of their employee base. With the visibility that HRM offers into an organization’s risk profile, security teams are able to protect their most vulnerable users.