Forrester Introduces Human Risk Management Landscape
Forrester reveals the growth of Human Risk Management, focusing on behavior change and risk reduction, according to Forrester. This shift matters as it helps protect people from cyberattacks.
Original reporting · forrester.com
Original: “HRM Grows Up: Introducing Forrester’s 2026 Human Risk Management Landscape”
Read “HRM Grows Up: Introducing Forrester’s 2026 Human Risk Management Landscape” at Forrester →
How this was written. Gosling Marketing Studio wrote this article with a language model from Forrester’s reporting (model: @cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast); it describes that reporting rather than adding to it. The original, linked above, is the full story.
Key points from Forrester’s report
- Forrester's Human Risk Management Landscape highlights the growth of the HRM market, with a focus on behavior change and risk reduction.
- Security leaders are moving beyond traditional training methods to more proactive risk management approaches.
- The use of AI in HRM is expanding, with a focus on its potential to impact behavior change and risk reduction.
- The scope of HRM is broadening to include AI usage, agent activity, and human-agent relationships.
- A unified view of human risk is critical in effective HRM, involving the correlation of various security signals.
Forrester reported that Chief Information Security Officers are exploring ways to use Human Risk Management to protect people from risks posed by agents, systems, and relationships. This approach is crucial in today's digital landscape. By doing so, they aim to move beyond traditional training methods.
The Human Risk Management market has matured, with most vendors now offering capabilities such as behavior identification and adaptive interventions. Security leaders require these features to effectively manage risk. This growth is significant, as it indicates a shift towards more proactive risk management.
A key theme in the current Human Risk Management market is the focus on evidence-based behavior change. Security leaders want to know whether their interventions are actually changing risky behaviors. This is a significant departure from traditional methods that only tracked training completion.
The increasing use of AI-generated content is also a notable trend in Human Risk Management. While AI can make training and simulations more efficient, its true potential lies in its ability to impact behavior change and risk reduction. Forrester notes that AI is not just a tool for content creation, but also for analyzing human risk.
The scope of Human Risk Management is expanding to include AI usage, agent activity, and human-agent relationships. This is because human risk is no longer limited to direct actions, but also includes the interactions between humans and AI systems. As a result, HRM solutions must now account for these additional factors.
Forrester identifies a unified view of human risk as a key aspect of effective Human Risk Management. This involves bringing together various security signals to create a comprehensive picture of risk. By correlating these signals, security leaders can identify risks that individual tools may miss.
Continuous and contextualized interventions are also critical in Human Risk Management. Rather than relying on periodic training and static simulations, HRM solutions must continuously monitor and quantify people's behaviors. This allows security leaders to target interventions based on an individual's specific risk profile.
Questions and answers
What is Human Risk Management?
Human Risk Management refers to solutions that manage and reduce cybersecurity risks posed by and to humans.
How is the HRM market evolving?
The HRM market is maturing, with most vendors now offering capabilities such as behavior identification and adaptive interventions.
What is the role of AI in HRM?
AI is being used in HRM to impact behavior change and risk reduction, rather than just content creation.
