Human Risk Intelligence is only as clear as the signals behind it. The four pillars give partners a shared language for explaining what HRI measures and why the combination matters.
The concept explained
HRI brings together four categories of signal:
Target Value: how attractive a user may be to an attacker. Target Value considers factors such as role, influence, exposure and organizational importance.
Awareness: how users respond to training and phishing simulations. This reflects behavior over time, not a single result.
Hygiene: weaknesses in account security, such as exposed credentials, weak account controls or missing multi-factor authentication (MFA).
Access: the systems, permissions and privileges a user holds, including administrative rights.
Each pillar tells you something on its own. The value comes from connecting them. A high target value user with weak hygiene and broad access is a very different priority from a low target value user with a single minor issue.
What it means for an MSP
The four pillars let partners move past a single metric and explain risk in terms customers recognize. They also make prioritization defensible: when a customer asks why one user matters more than another, the answer is grounded in a clear, consistent model rather than a gut feel.
A practical customer example
Two users have the same training score. On the surface they look equal. Through the four pillars, they are not: one is a finance director with administrative access and exposed credentials, the other is a warehouse user with limited access and clean hygiene. Same awareness signal, very different risk. HRI surfaces that difference automatically.
Key takeaway
The four pillars, Target Value, Awareness, Hygiene and Access, are the signals HRI connects. Together they explain not just who is at risk, but why, and how urgently.
Find the relevant resources
Next, read Understanding Toxic Combinations to see what happens when several of these weaknesses overlap in one user.
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