When Humans Fail: The Top Cybersecurity Risk for IT Managers

People remain the primary attack surface; recent supply-chain breaches, large-scale data exfiltration, and evolving ransomware tactics show how a single human or vendor error can cascade into systemic harm. Below is a website-ready, educational article with current examples and clear takeaways for visitors.

Why the human factor matters now

Attackers combine psychological manipulation with technical exploits to scale impact: a targeted email, a reused credential, or a vulnerable vendor update can unlock entire networks. The 2023 MOVEit mass-exploitation demonstrated how a single flaw in a widely used managed-file-transfer product led to thousands of victim organizations and tens of millions of exposed records, showing how human trust in vendor tools multiplies risk.

Supply-chain and third-party risk

Supply-chain compromises turn routine vendor relationships into attack vectors. Analysis of the MOVEit spree and follow-on reporting show wide downstream impact across healthcare, government, education, and finance, where one vendor’s breach exposed data for tens of millions of people and disrupted services for many organizations. Treat third parties as extensions of your human attack surface: require attestations, enforce MFA, and monitor vendor telemetry.

Ransomware’s new playbook

Ransomware has shifted from pure encryption to data extortion, rapid monetization, and AI-assisted social engineering. Industry telemetry shows ransomware volumes and public extortion cases surged in 2024–2025, with attackers prioritizing stolen data and reputational pressure over immediate encryption alone. That means a single successful phishing click or credential theft can produce outsized financial and operational damage.

Organized crime, fragmentation, and brand returns

Law-enforcement takedowns have fragmented some RaaS ecosystems, but new affiliates and rebrands (and the reappearance of legacy brands) keep pressure high. Recent intelligence on major ransomware families reveals rapid reconstitution, affiliate programs, and “lite” offerings that lower the barrier for novice operators—expanding the pool of human actors who can launch damaging attacks.

Critical-infrastructure and healthcare lessons

Attacks on service providers and clearinghouses show how human and vendor failures ripple into patient care and national services. The 2024 Change Healthcare incident disrupted claims processing and affected hundreds of millions of patient records, illustrating how attacks on a single third-party operator can create nationwide operational and financial crises for providers.

Practical takeaways for website readers (actionable)

• Train continuously: role-based phishing simulations with measurable remediation rates.

• Harden vendor controls: inventory critical suppliers, require MFA, and enforce patch SLAs.

• Automate offboarding: Tie HR events to immediate deprovisioning and privileged-access reviews.

• Segment and backup: immutable backups and network segmentation limit lateral movement.

• Share intelligence: join sector ISACs and run tabletop exercises with OT/IT stakeholders.

Closing:

Convert the human factor from liability into defense by combining education, automated controls, and vendor governance. Use this article as a public-facing primer to educate visitors and drive engagement by linking each recommendation to a downloadable checklist or short video primer.

References

Mandiant. (2024). M-Trends 2024 special report (Executive edition). Google Cloud Security. https://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/m-trends-2024-executive-edition.pdf .

MITRE ATT&CK. (2023). SolarWinds Compromise, Campaign C0024. MITRE. https://attack.mitre.org/campaigns/C0024/ .

Center for Internet Security. (2021). The SolarWinds cyber-attack: What you need to know. CIS. https://www.cisecurity.org/solarwinds .

Simas, Z. (2023, July 18). Unpacking the MOVEit breach: Statistics and analysis. Emsisoft. https://www.emsisoft.com/en/blog/44123/unpacking-the-moveit-breach-statistics-and-analysis/ .

Page, C. (2023, August 25). MOVEit, the biggest hack of the year, by the numbers. TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2023/08/25/moveit-mass-hack-by-the-numbers/ .

American Hospital Association. (2025). Change Healthcare cyberattack underscores urgent need to strengthen cyber preparedness [PDF]. AHA. https://www.aha.org/system/files/media/file/2025/02/Change-Healthcare-Cyberattack-Underscores-Urgent-Need-to-Strengthen-Cyber-Preparedness.pdf .