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KnowBe4, a leading platform for human and agentic AI risk management, has published a new white paper titled “Securing the Public Sector at Scale: How Unified Human Risk Management Drives Cyber Resilience.” The report examines the persistent cybersecurity vulnerabilities facing the U.S. public sector, particularly in government and education institutions.
The public sector faces four core cybersecurity challenges: advanced and unrelenting threat activity, chronic resource constraints, increasing compliance oversight, and the enduring role of human error as the leading vulnerability. Ransomware, phishing, business email compromise, and credential theft attacks continue to intensify, with adversaries employing increasingly targeted, human-focused tactics. Local governments are disproportionately affected, comprising an estimated 43% of ransomware incidents in 2025 according to the 2025 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report.
Nation-state actors and ransomware groups actively target sensitive public data, exploiting limited resources and legacy systems common in these environments.
“As a leader with experience in both the public and private sector, I have unique perspectives on the challenges that cybersecurity leaders face and how to overcome them,” said Bryan Palma, CEO, KnowBe4. “The public sector manages vast amounts of sensitive data, operates with limited budgets and resources, and is increasingly in the crosshairs of threat actors ranging from ransomware gangs to nation-state adversaries. We are proud to support the public sector mission by providing the tools and intelligence necessary to empower their most valuable asset, people, against these threats.”
KnowBe4’s integrated platform addresses these challenges by focusing on human risk management as a foundational layer of defense. Public sector customers benefit from high-quality awareness training, gamified content, simulated phishing exercises, real-time coaching, and tools to manage both human and emerging AI agent risks.
“Any fault in our technology or error from our staff could impact thousands of city residents,” said Hossam Reziqa, chief information officer, City of Daytona Beach. “It is imperative that we are aware of what we have so we can secure our systems. I have been a customer of KnowBe4 for at least 12 years. KnowBe4 is, hands down, one of the best platforms to train users on emerging threats. A key benefit of KnowBe4 is the quality of the content, whether it is gamification, video, or the questions asked.”
The platform’s adaptive approach helps organizations build security culture, reduce human-enabled risks, and strengthen overall cyber resilience amid evolving threats.
The white paper underscores the need for scalable, unified strategies that prioritize people as the frontline of defense. By combining awareness training, integrated email security, crowdsourced anti-phishing intelligence, and AI defense agents, KnowBe4 enables public sector entities to mitigate risks proactively and maintain mission continuity.
About KnowBe4
KnowBe4 empowers workforces to make smarter security decisions every day. Trusted by more than 70,000 organizations worldwide, KnowBe4 builds security culture and helps teams manage both human and agent risk. The company delivers a comprehensive, agentic best-of-suite platform for Human Risk Management, creating an adaptive defense layer that reinforces secure behavior against evolving cybersecurity threats. The HRM+ platform includes awareness training, integrated cloud email security, real-time coaching, crowdsourced anti-phishing, AI Defense Agents, and more. As AI becomes increasingly embedded in business operations, KnowBe4 prepares the modern workforce by training both humans and AI agents to recognize and respond to security risks. Through this unified approach, KnowBe4 leads workforce trust management and defense strategies.
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