Cybercriminals continue to exploit human behavior as a gateway into organizations, despite strengthened detection and defense tools.
Security infrastructure has hardened, but stealing valid credentials and logging in is often easier than breaking through perimeter defenses. This is not merely a matter of employee oversight; rather, the rapid expansion of accounts, access permissions, and predictable workflows introduces exploitable vulnerabilities. AI-enabled social engineering now allows attackers to scale those tactics quickly and convincingly.
Identity has become the enterprise’s front door. Yet traditional responses, such as awareness training, cannot secure it on their own. Reducing human-enabled risk requires systems and governance designed to anticipate error and limit its impact, rather than simply preventing it.
Why humans are the focus of cyberattacks today
Humans have been targets of cyberattacks since the early days of cybersecurity, and as their interactions with business systems expand, that trend will likely continue. Cybercriminals understand that user error provides an excellent attack vector. The human factor is still a prime component in 60% of data breaches, so people remain a focal point. Here’s why:
Identity-based attacks work
It is humans — not technology — who act on emails or messages in response to fear, urgency, curiosity, or trust. Attackers exploit this by using phishing, smishing, vishing, email compromise, and impersonation.
Especially under pressure, humans routinely engage in actions that go against security protocols. “By nature, people are pretty trustful, and if they are not trained and aware to look for malicious content, it won’t trigger in their mind,” says DJ Hoeksema, head of the Security Operations Center at SpearTip, a Zurich Company. “As systems harden, users remain human, continuing to interact and trust. Because they are the softest target for threat actors, we see them being attacked diligently and constantly.”
Credentials are the new currency
Credentials represent a person’s digital identity and the systems they can access. When attackers compromise those credentials, they can move through the network like a legitimate user, gaining full access to sensitive data. “We see identity fraud continue to rise because threat actors know this is an attack vector that works, can often be highly automated, and easily allows access to large amounts of money,” explains Hoeksema.
More vulnerabilities with remote work
The proliferation of personal devices and cloud applications increases opportunities for unauthorized access, particularly via home or off-site connections that often rely on human judgment as the first line of defense.
Defenses can weaken when daily tasks take over. Rushed workers bypass security controls for speed: using unsecured Wi-Fi, sending business files via personal email, or approving MFA requests without verification.
Attackers adapt faster than human defenders
Cybercriminals constantly update their psychological tactics and tools. They scrape social media accounts for current info, mimic executive writing style, and launch time-sensitive attacks while continually improving their methodologies.
Unfortunately, human workers aren’t nearly as quick to adapt. Even with training, instituting change takes time and often follows multiple mistakes.
Why traditional responses fail
Many teams have implemented security awareness training to help prepare employees for a barrage of human-focused attacks. But many aren’t getting the results they’d hoped for.
Awareness training by itself delivers only modest results on average, and despite training, a majority of data breaches still involve human errors.
Awareness training fails for two common reasons. First, it isn’t challenging enough. “Threat actors are really, really good. They understand users are training. They are going to send the most professional, curated, best-looking emails that truly match what’s going on in your organization,” Hoeksema says. “If you don’t train for that and train with emails that don’t make it too hard because you don’t want users to fail, you’re not training right.”
Second, many teams train but don’t reinforce it with follow-up testing. “If you just train and don’t test aggressively, you don’t know if your training worked or what areas may need additional training,” says Hoeksema.
Reducing identity-related risks
Ready to begin reducing identity-related risks in your organization? Here’s how to start:
• Replace passwords: Passwords are behind many credential compromises, so replace them with passkeys or hardware-backed MFA.
• Implement security by default: Security becomes a habit by default, so automate MFA and encryption, five-minute auto locks, and internal cloud sharing.
• Minimize stressed decisions: Mistakes often result from fatigue and stressed decision-making, so reduce alerts and unnecessary security prompts while mandating forced pauses before significant security decisions.
• Eliminate high-risk human processes and give real-time feedback: Replace high-risk processes with dual-approval workflows that use secure portals, out-of-band verification, and role-based access. Also, keep your team alert with real-time browser warnings and payment verification prompts.
• Limit damage potential: Assume mistakes and limit damage with segmented networks, least-privileged access, session token binding, and auto-session revoke with anomaly detection.
• Streamline reporting of suspicious activity: Make reporting suspicious emails easy with one-click reporting, no push back for mistakes, and immediate recognition of success.
Designing smarter defense systems
Today’s most effective defenders shift their approach from attempting to correct human behavior to designing systems around inevitable mistakes. Innovative teams no longer struggle to fix humans with more training, but rather, design smarter systems accounting for and working around human error.
Start by employing a formula to reduce identity compromise that uses password-less authentication, Zero Trust architecture, security-by-default design, reconstituted financial processes, and real-time behavior reminders within a positive reinforcement culture.
Be sure to fortify systems by binding session tokens to individual devices and binding devices to individual users. Also, install controls to alert if an identity becomes compromised. “In addition to all the actions left of the breach, you should monitor your identities as a last and final step. You should always monitor, being able to detect abnormal activity from a user, then have an identity breach response readily in place,” Hoeksema advises.
Cybercriminals recognize that exploiting human behavior remains more effective than targeting technical vulnerabilities alone. Leading teams accept this and design their systems to assume and bypass human errors for a more secure future.
SpearTip helps organizations reduce identity-related cyber risk through advisory, SOC, and incident response services. Learn how your organization can implement smarter, human-centered defenses and strengthen cyber resilience.
