Why It’s Time to Move Beyond Traditional Security Awareness Training
Right-Hand Cybersecurity
Our Human Risk Management platform empowers organizations to change employee behavior and reduce employee risk.
In the evolving world of cybersecurity, traditional Security Awareness Training (SAT) is beginning to show its age.
While SAT has played a crucial role in raising awareness about human risk, many programs have become outdated, costly, and disconnected from the realities of modern threats.
As security leaders seek more effective strategies, Human Risk Management (HRM) is emerging as a holistic alternative that addresses today’s challenges through integration, behavioral insights, and a more dynamic approach.
The Limitations of One-Size-Fits-All Approaches in Traditional Security Awareness Programs
Security awareness has come a long way, but many vendors are stuck in the past with generic, one-size-fits-all solutions. Repetitive content, lack of role-specific training, and disengaging formats have left employees unmotivated and unprepared for real-world threats.
Instead of inspiring behavior change, these programs often feel like a compliance checkbox exercise that fails to foster a genuine security culture.
- Focus on Repetitive Content vs. Behavioral Change and Culture
Traditional programs rely heavily on static, compliance-driven training. Long videos, repetitive slides, and a lack of interactivity leave employees feeling disengaged, with little incentive to take responsibility for their role in the organization’s security posture.
Effective HRM, on the other hand, aligns training with real behaviors and organizational risk profiles, delivering relevant, engaging content that drives both compliance and meaningful cultural change.
- Failure to Target Specific Roles and Risks
Employees in different roles face unique security risks, but traditional SAT often delivers the same content to everyone. This approach overlooks the distinct challenges faced by various departments, locations, and risk profiles.
HRM addresses this gap by providing tailored interventions that speak directly to the needs of individual roles, ensuring that training is not only relevant but impactful.
- The Challenge of Measuring Effectiveness
One of the biggest shortcomings of traditional security awareness programs is the difficulty in measuring what truly matters. Many organizations rely on outdated metrics like phishing click rates, which provide only a narrow view of employee behavior.
HRM shifts the focus to more meaningful, behavior-based metrics, such as changes in SOC alerts and actionable insights that drive security decisions. This data-driven approach helps security leaders quantify success in ways that align with broader organizational goals.
The Diminishing Returns of Traditional Training
Despite increased investment in traditional programs, their impact is often shrinking. Security leaders find themselves stuck in a Groundhog Day scenario, renewing solutions that offer diminishing returns year after year.
The disconnect between employee knowledge and action remains, as generic training fails to prepare employees for real-life challenges.
HRM, by contrast, integrates with security tech stacks and leverages behavioral science to provide dynamic, real-world learning opportunities.
Is Security Awareness Training Done?
Security awareness isn’t going away—it’s evolving. HRM integrates the best aspects of SAT into a more comprehensive methodology that prioritizes behavior change and risk reduction. It moves beyond mass delivery and engagement-based metrics, focusing instead on real human risk and its impact on overall cyber risk.
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The Need for a More Holistic Approach
Organizations must move beyond traditional training models and adopt a more integrated approach to managing human risk. HRM fills this gap by communicating with existing security tools, deploying training based on real-life behaviors, and leveraging technology to enhance human defenses.
HRM is not just about reducing costs—it’s about building a more resilient and secure organization.
What’s Next?
In the next chapter, we’ll discuss the importance of security nudges in HRM. Follow us on LinkedIn and visit www.right-hand.ai to continue exploring the essentials of HRM.
Want to know more?
The Future is Now: Introducing Human Risk Management - By Jinan Bulge, VP, Principal Analyst, Forrester
What is Human Risk Management - Our in-depth article on the subject
Forrester’s The Human Risk Management Solutions Landscape, Q1 2024, a comprehensive overview of the HRM Industry and 15 vendors. We’ve published a summary/analysis of the report.
Our comprehensive Human Risk Management vs Traditional Security Awareness Cheat Sheet.
Right-Hand’s Human Risk Management Essentials
This is the ninth of 10 daily articles where we'll use our expertise to explain HRM's basic concepts, and applications, and how to start with it to move from traditional Security Awareness programs to a more sophisticated and effective path.
If you want to follow the whole series, please make sure you follow us here on LinkedIn and visit us at www.right-hand.ai