Humans are regularly referred to as the ‘weakest link’ in information security. However, organizations have historically relied on the effectiveness of technical security controls, instead of trying to understand why people are susceptible to mistakes and manipulation. A new approach is clearly required: one that helps organizations to understand and manage psychological vulnerabilities, and adopts technology and controls that are designed with human behavior in mind. That new approach is human-centred security. Human-centred security starts with understanding humans and their interaction with technologies, controls and data. By discovering how and when humans ‘touch’ data throughout the working day, organizations can uncover the circumstances where psychological-related errors may lead to security incidents. For years, attackers have been using methods of psychological manipulation to coerce humans into making errors. Attack techniques have evolved in the digital age, increasing
