‘People aren’t perfect and everyone knows it’: Security experts still see humans as the biggest threat to their businesses
- Human error remains one of the biggest challenges to online security, according to industry leaders
- 68% of security professionals cite human error, compared to only 55% of email-based scams.
- A worrying 80% of the factors contributing to recent security incidents are due to poor user practices or lack of training.
New research into the challenges facing cybersecurity professionals has revealed the simple truth: that humans are considered the main challenge to security.
A new Kaseya survey of more than 1,100 MSPs and IT professionals around the world uncovered a surprising trend: that the risks humans pose to their cybersecurity are considerable. About 68% of respondents cited human error (including social engineering and distraction) as the most concerning attack vector in the next 12 months.
With the vast majority of cybersecurity incidents attributable to human error, security suites and the teams that use them are increasingly focused on ways to mitigate the challenges posed by people.
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human error
We know that humans need security as much as the data they work with. But the results of this survey illustrate a sad truth: that cybersecurity professionals are more concerned about user errors and “soft” target vulnerabilities than about the threats of automated attacks against network hardware and servers.
Hackers know that humans make mistakes. Organizations must be on the same page.
From the results of the report it is clear that, after the perspective of the risks caused by human errors, social engineering and distractions, 55% of respondents are concerned about email attacks. Credulity is also considered a risk (41%), as is users’ lack of cybersecurity training (40%).
Auditing is not always the answer either. Of those surveyed, 65% said they would pass a compliance audit today, but 49% noted that incomplete documentation and procedures could create problems.
True cyber resilience
Worryingly, only 20% of IT departments have a budget that grows in line with the risks they face, and 77% describe themselves as under-resourced.
“People aren’t perfect and everyone knows that,” said David Baggett, senior vice president and general manager of Security Suite at Kaseya. “However, much of cybersecurity still depends on people making the right decision every time.”
Unfortunately, it looks like human error is here to stay. So what is the solution? Bagget says it’s about taking bad practices and mistakes into account.
“The path to true cyber resilience is not about eliminating errors. It is about building an organization that can withstand them. Expect errors, consider limitations, and design around them.”
As far as Kaseya is concerned, that means building security systems and practices that resist those mistakes.
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