Human error, deepfakes, and phishing: what should teams change?

TL;DR: Riot argues that the real lesson of the Trojan Horse is not payload sophistication but the cover story, because social engineering still succeeds by exploiting trust, and the article cites roughly 60% of breaches involving human error in 2026. The practical answer is to treat human psychology, not just technical controls, as the attack surface.

Editorial analysis by NHI Mgmt Group, based on content published by Riot: “3,000 Years Later, What Can The Odyssey Tell Us About the Birth of Social Engineering?”.

By the numbers:

• Roughly 60% of all data breaches in 2026 still involve an element of human error, according to Riot.

Key questions

Q: What breaks when staff trust a convincing impersonation request?

A: The failure is not only a mistaken click.

Q: Why do deepfakes make social engineering more effective?

A: Deepfakes make social engineering more effective because they add sensory credibility to the usual pressure tactics.

Q: What signs show that phishing resilience is weak?

A: Frequent clicks, credential reuse after training, and inconsistent escalation on suspicious requests all indicate that people are still making security decisions under stress without reliable guardrails.

Practitioner guidance

• Implement out-of-band verification for high-risk requests Require a second channel for payment, credential reset, and privileged approval requests whenever the request originates through email, voice, or video.
• Run deception-focused simulations Test how quickly staff recognise impersonation, urgent payment pressure, and executive spoofing, then measure where they fail before the transaction completes.
• Add approval friction to financial workflows Introduce mandatory callbacks, dual approval, and beneficiary validation for transfers and account changes that would be costly if manipulated.

Bottom line: Social engineering remains effective because it attacks the human decision to trust, not just the technical environment around it.

Explore further

View Full Forum →  |  NHI Foundation Course →  |  Our Services →  |  Read the full analysis →