We often forget what we should remember. The sun rises, the tides ebb and flow, and people make mistakes. “To err is human,” they say. In our rush to embrace new technologies, we overlook a simple truth: people are the heart of any endeavor. This is most evident in cybersecurity and insurance.
A recent report by Arctic Wolf lays it bare. Despite all the firewalls and encryption, human error remains the greatest threat in cybersecurity and insurance. The report shows that human mistakes account for up to 95% of security failures. That’s a staggering number, but it shouldn’t surprise us.
We build machines to protect us, but we cannot escape ourselves. The old sailors knew this: “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.” In our digital world, that weak link is often a tired employee reusing a password or clicking on a rogue link.
The Arctic Wolf study reveals a dangerous gap between confidence and reality. Eighty percent of IT leaders believe they can fend off phishing attacks, yet sixty-four percent have fallen for them. They trust their systems but forget the fallibility of the people who use them.
Passwords are reused, multi-factor authentication is ignored, and security features are disabled. These aren’t technical failures in cybersecurity and insurance; they’re human ones. We must face this truth if we hope to build stronger defenses.
Communication falters too. Policies are written but not shared. Employees fear reporting mistakes, worried they’ll lose their jobs. This fear breeds silence, and silence is fertile ground for unseen threats.
We need to remember old wisdom and embrace new philosophies that put people first. Training in cybersecurity and insurance must be continuous and engaging, not a yearly checkbox. We must foster a culture where mistakes are lessons, not punishments.
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” By investing in our people—making them partners in security rather than liabilities—we can turn the tide. Technology will advance, but without the steady hand of well-trained and confident people, it won’t be enough.
In the end, we must remember the obvious. People are essential. They are our greatest asset and, if neglected, our greatest risk. Let us build methods that make us better at security by making us better at being human.
