Organizational cybersecurity human and technical risks

Cybersecurity experts are identifying growing vulnerabilities within organizational infrastructures, focusing on both technical and human-centric risks.

Initial concerns centered on infrastructure and process failures, such as network misconfigurations in hybrid IT, cloud, and IoT environments. A significant risk was identified in employee offboarding processes, where data indicated that nearly 90% of former employees maintained access to sensitive systems, including email and cloud platforms, as of 2025. These gaps, alongside unrotated credentials and forgotten API keys, create pathways for data exfiltration.

Subsequent analysis has expanded to highlight the impact of human factors, specifically chronic employee burnout. While technical defenses remain a priority, research suggests that human error or unintentional mistakes are involved in approximately 60% of all data breaches. Experts note that user-driven errors and credential misuse account for the majority of modern incidents, with the average cost of an insider-driven incident estimated at US$13.1 million.