Discuss human error or human factors as a major security threat.

Human error, or human factors, poses a significant security threat. It involves unpredictable and often unintentional human actions that can compromise system integrity, confidentiality, or availability. These errors are not always malicious; they frequently result from negligence, lack of awareness, fatigue, or insufficient training.

Examples of human errors include:

• Weak Password Practices: Users select easily guessable passwords, reuse passwords across multiple services, or share them. This makes systems vulnerable to brute-force attacks or credential stuffing.
• Social Engineering: Individuals fall victim to phishing, pretexting, or baiting scams. Attackers exploit human trust or a lack of skepticism to gain unauthorized access or information.
• Misconfigurations: System administrators or network engineers inadvertently leave default credentials, open ports, or incorrect access controls on servers, firewalls, or other network devices. Such errors are a common source of vulnerabilities.
• Improper Data Handling: Employees lose unencrypted devices, share sensitive information via insecure channels, or improperly dispose of confidential documents.
• Ignoring Security Policies: Personnel bypass security protocols for convenience, disable antivirus software, or fail to report suspicious activities. This can lead to compliance issues and open doors for attackers.

Minimizing human error requires comprehensive security awareness training, strong policy enforcement, and technical controls designed to reduce user impact. These measures form a critical part of any security assessment and assurance program.