Anyone who has heard “Risk Management” and immediately thought, “Here comes the jargon,” is right on target. There are so many lingo terms associated with this subject. Many of these frameworks, regardless of how they are referred to portray employees as your company’s weakest link. They work under the premise that risk management is necessary because your team is the source of your risks.

Risk management has undergone a paradigm shift, and the people who work for your company are no longer vilified as the source of the problem. You empower them to detect and report threats, so they become advocates for your security instead.

Essentially, it’s called human risk management, and it’s transforming cybersecurity as we know it.

In cybersecurity, what is the human risk?

Risk management is exactly what it sounds like: the management of the risks that your company faces. It’s all about identifying and preparing for your prospective risks.

You may be familiar with the concept of risk management in the context of business or HR (HR). Recruiting, onboarding, offboarding, compliance, and a few other issues are all part of HR risk management.

The benefits of this employee risk management have been recognized by those in the cybersecurity industry. Because human error, action, or inaction accounts for more than 80% of data breaches, security tools and software alone will not be enough to keep your company safe.

Managing the people behind your brand is one of the most effective ways to improve your cybersecurity because they are often the ones who are manipulated to gain access to your network.

When it comes to human risk management (HRM), you have to change the way you see your workers as security threats. Instead, it encourages you to see your team as your greatest asset—and to believe that they can champion your security with the proper awareness training and support.

The Importance of Human Risk Management for Your Cybersecurity Team

It’s time to dispel the notion that HR is solely responsible for addressing human risk. As part of your security team, you should be training and empowering your staff.

HRM reduces risk and builds human allies.

For this reason alone, a human risk management attitude is essential if you want long-term behavioral change and proactive risk reduction.

Important cultural shifts occur when your cybersecurity team offers engaging, instructional security awareness training and awards employees for their achievements. There’s a new sense of urgency among your team members about how they can help keep you safe. They want to be a part of defending it because they see how important it is to them. This results in a profound cultural shift over time.

HRM ties together your tools.

So many layers of technology have been thrown at the problem for so long that we’ve become accustomed to this approach. There are so many new tool and software suppliers hawking their products as the ultimate solution that it’s hard to blame them. Your cybersecurity team may be paying for a slew of subscriptions, many of which don’t operate together.

We point out in our booklet that “it’s impossible to correlate trends, detect weaknesses, and improve the overall security posture with too many diverse technologies and walled data.” Integrating, upgrading, and replacing systems to reduce software costs and improve productivity is all possible with good human resource management.

Automated HRM saves time.

It’s not uncommon for cybersecurity experts to be multi-tasking and being tugged in multiple directions at once. Because of the large amount of work, they must perform, security awareness program owners (SAPOs) are often overburdened and unable to complete even the most basic of tasks.

Using human risk management, you can ensure that all i’s and t’s are crossed even when your security team has a lot on their plate. You can, for example, automate your training so that it is provided to your employees at the exact moment they need it: when they are fooled by a simulated phishing effort. The preceding is only one illustration. While saving your security staff considerable time, HRM can highlight further ways automation can better safeguard your organisation.

HRM provides you with data that gives you power.

It’s a common gripe among those in the cybersecurity industry that it’s difficult to demonstrate the return on their investment (ROI). To track security awareness training results and other essential metrics, you’ll need to implement the correct human risk management.

It’s important to identify the correct KPIs for tracking and assigning value to the efforts of your employees to support your cybersecurity program to gain the support of your company’s top executives.

Final Words

It’s time to stop looking at your company’s workers as the root of all evil when it comes to risk management. As a member of your organization’s security team, you should encourage and train your employees to spot and report potential threats. Using HRM, even if your security team is overburdened, you can ensure that all i’s and t’s are crossed. With good HRM, it is possible to integrate, upgrade, and replace systems to reduce software costs and increase productivity.