Beyond the Weakest Link: New Research on Defending the Human Edge in the Age of AI

Security leaders have spent years hearing that employees are the weakest link. SANS and Sidekick partnered on a research project to test that assumption and map how organizations actually experience human-layer risk today:

• Where incidents originate
• How quickly teams detect risky user actions such as a risky click, login, or data paste
• Whether the tools accumulated over the years are reducing risk or adding complexity

The webcast also examines a question every security leader will recognize: whether concern about human-layer risk is translating into budget, board attention, and a change in approach, or settling into an accepted status quo.

The survey also probed the questions reshaping security roadmaps. We’ll be exploring topics such as:

• Is AI mostly making familiar threats faster and more convincing, or is it a fundamentally different kind of risk that calls for a different defense?
• How do practitioners view AI agents that assist users in the moment, and where does governing employee AI use rank against competing priorities?
• What actually moves human-layer risk from a recognized problem to a funded initiative, whether a security incident, a board mandate, regulatory pressure, or a breach at a peer?

Finally, we will also examine what security professionals say would most strengthen their defense of the human layer.