
It’s no secret that the majority of today’s security incidents – including ransomware, account compromise, and data loss – can be directly attributed to human error. New findings on current efforts to deal with workforce security risk reveal that traditional efforts simply don’t work.
Wade Baker of the Cyentia Institute recently joined Elevate CEO Robert Fly for a revealing session on this topic as part of our Fireside Chat webinar series.
Besides his work as a security industry analyst, Wade Baker is a Phd and professor at Virginia Tech, and member of the advisory boards for both the RSA Conference and FAIR Institute. He describes his passion for research as an “ongoing quest to improve cybersecurity knowledge, practice, and products through data-driven analysis”.
More than a decade ago, Wade was a founding analyst who helped create and lead Verizon's Data Breach Investigations Report, now the industry’s annual benchmark for understanding threat trends and prioritizing defenses.

On this webcast Wade Baker gives a short history of the DBIR and how, from its earliest days, the research team struggled with the multiple subjective definitions of “insider risk”. Then he takes a deep-dive into the new report Elevating Human Attack Service Management, giving some actionable advice for your enterprise.
This comprehensive study analyzed more than 5M user security decisions over a two-year period. The research effort addresses the ambiguity inherent in human behavior as it relates to cybersecurity.
Robert and Wade’s illuminating discussion reveals some surprising findings that sought to answer some tough questions. Among other topics, the webcast covers:
- The multiple definitions of “insider risk” and their share of total security incidents, as of 2020
- The success (and eventual failure) of phishing simulations and security awareness training, over time
- An examination of which kinds of users (e.g. contractors, employees, managers) are the riskiest
Finally, Robert and Wade present a vision for targeting the riskiest users with tailored individual controls.
This engaging and informative webcast is now available on demand, and well worth the one-hour time investment. Register and you’ll receive a free copy of the full Cyentia Report, downloadable from the playback page. This session is a perfect introduction to discovering how human attack surface management can help predict and prevent your next security incident.
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