CISOs: If You Don’t Invest in Human Risk, Attackers Will Prove You Wrong

You Can’t Solve a People Problem with a Tool 

Every year, we watch cybersecurity budgets balloon—billions spent on SOCs, endpoint detection, threat intel feeds, and the latest AI-enhanced automation platforms. And yet, breaches persist. Why? Because 90–95% of successful incidents still trace back to human behavior. Despite this, only 2–5% of security budgets are allocated to addressing human risk. That’s not just a mismatch. It’s a strategic blind spot.

We’re not here to bash tech. We love a good blinky-light dashboard as much as the next security nerd. But if your tools are state-of-the-art and your people are under-trained, misinformed, disengaged, or culturally disconnected—your defenses are paper-thin.

The Eisenhower Matrix of Cyber Priorities

The urgent always shouts louder than the important. And in security, that means chasing alerts, responding to audits, and managing tools often overshadows long-term, strategic investment. Awareness, training, and culture? They’re stuck in Quadrant II: Important, but never urgent—until it’s too late.

CISOs and awareness leaders are stretched thin. They’re running phishing simulations, writing newsletter copy, updating LMS modules, and trying to pull metrics for the board—often without dedicated staff, budget, or cross-functional support. It's a recipe for tactical burnout and strategic stagnation.

The Race to the Bottom: Why Generic Awareness Isn't Enough

Let’s be honest: much of the cybersecurity awareness industry has set the bar depressingly low. Legacy vendors offer bare-bones content at rock-bottom prices, turning awareness into a budget footnote. Yes, you can buy generic eLearning for a few dollars per employee per year—but what are you actually getting?

A 10-minute annual training? A cartoon avatar with a catchy jingle? A phish sim report that doesn’t tell you why people clicked?

Here’s the truth: If generic content worked, we wouldn’t still be talking about human error in 2025. Good enough isn’t good enough anymore.

AI Risk Changed the Game—and the Stakes

Now, add AI to the mix. The same generative tools your team uses to speed up productivity are also being used to generate convincing phishing emails, clone voices, and scrape internal data for attack planning. AI has escalated the risk, shortened attack cycles, and made mistakes more costly.

Cyber insurance is tightening. Regulatory pressure is growing. Boards are asking better questions. The time for cosmetic awareness efforts has passed.

What’s needed now is real human risk management:

• Behavioral insights

• Cultural intelligence

• Risk segmentation

• Targeted intervention

• Measurable change

And that doesn’t come from an LMS or a phishing tool alone.

Smart Investment Isn’t About Spending More—It’s Spending Differently

Organizations that invest wisely in human-centric security strategies see real returns:

• Reduced incident rates

• Lower insurance premiums

• Faster time to detection and response

• Increased employee engagement and alignment

The key? Designing your program around your business, your culture, and your risk reality. Not someone else’s checklist.

You need:

• Expert support to assess your environment

• Frameworks that make sense for your workforce

• Content that actually lands with your people

• Programs that run consistently, not just during Cybersecurity Awareness Month

This isn’t about budget bloat—it’s about budget reallocation. And yes, it can cost less than you think.

Final Thought: You Can’t Afford Not To

If you don’t invest in human risk management, attackers will do it for you.

They’ll exploit the gaps, the assumptions, the apathy. And they’ll use AI to do it faster than ever before.

You’ve already spent the money on tools. Now it’s time to invest in people. Not because it’s nice—but because it’s necessary.

Let’s build a strategy that puts your people first—before someone else makes you wish you had.