"We scrapped everything to do with technical in our awareness training," Kevin Jones said.
At Infosecurity Europe 2026, Bayer's chief information security officer described a deliberate break with conventional security awareness: a shift from checklist-driven advice toward a psychology-first program designed to blunt increasingly realistic, AI-enabled social engineering. The change is part of a broader strategy to become "one of Europe’s leading agentic deployment organizations in the pharmaceutical industry" and to govern how staff and suppliers use generative AI inside the company.
Kevin Jones and psychology-first security awareness
Jones told attendees that standard cues—spelling errors, suspicious URLs, odd attachments—no longer reliably flag malicious messages because attackers "have learnt to spell, in five different languages, all in real time, and it’s all generated with AI at scale." Instead, Bayer has made mandatory, behavior-focused training that emphasizes recognition of psychological manipulation: asking whether someone is applying undue pressure, whether a caller is posing as an authority, and learning to "stop and pause and think" before deviating from process.
Jones shared a concrete result. Late last year, the company’s Europe, Middle East and Africa CFO received a convincing-sounding phone call purporting to be from Bayer’s global CFO, asking for an urgent weekend money transfer. Because staff had followed the new guidance, "everyone reported it" and there was zero loss, Jones said — a case he presented as proof that reframing awareness around adversary psychology can turn employees into an effective early defense.
AI access controls and myGenAssist
Bayer ties AI competence to controlled access. Small, role-based training modules are prerequisites for staff to access internal AI platforms such as myGenAssist, which Jones described as Bayer’s homemade response to commercial generative AI platforms like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Additional modules are required for employees who want to build agents within the platform. The company has created a tiered access model that gates who can develop and run agentic workflows; Jones said the design both "entices staff members to complete training" and allows the security team to "track our data."
SOC evolution: from human in the loop to human on the loop
Jones said he expects security operations to change quickly as agent-assisted processes scale. He argued SOC analysts "will not be able to work at the speed of agents" and predicted SOC teams will move "from human in the loop to human on the loop within two to three years." To support that transition, Bayer is introducing new operational playbooks and training so analysts can manage AI agents themselves, rather than only relying on AI co-pilots or assistants. Jones urged colleagues to consider SOCs less as security operations centers and more as cyber resilience centers capable of making controlled changes to environments to preserve resilience.
Third-party obligations, AI Governance Council, and contract changes
Bayer’s workforce rules are mirrored in stricter third-party requirements. Suppliers must complete AI training before receiving tiered access to myGenAssist, Jones said, and an internal AI Governance Council now "defines every strategic move for using and deploying AI." Procurement contracts have been updated with AI-specific security annexes that require suppliers to disclose how they use Bayer data, which AI tools they employ, and to report incidents. Jones said those contract changes are being rolled out to major partners now and "will be deployed across the supplier base over the next 18 months." "Suppliers must inform us how they're using our data," he added.
What this means for SOC analysts, procurement leaders, and suppliers
- SOC analysts: Prepare to shift from manual triage to supervised automation; training will need to cover not only AI-assisted detection but also agent management and controlled remediation actions.
- Procurement leaders: Expect an 18-month rollout window for AI-specific contract annexes and new disclosure requirements; vendors will need to demonstrate training completion and transparency about AI tool usage.
- Suppliers and integrators: Access to internal AI platforms like myGenAssist will be contingent on completing role-based AI training and meeting the standards set by Bayer’s AI Governance Council.
Bayer’s program ties behavior-focused awareness, tiered technical access, and contractual transparency into a single strategy aimed at reducing the human and supply-chain risk introduced by agentic AI. The company’s timeline — from mandatory, psychology-informed training to an 18-month supplier rollout — sets a clear operational tempo. Whether that tempo translates into sustained compliance, consistent incident reporting from suppliers, and scalable SOC processes remains the next practical test of the approach.
Original reporting: Infosecurity Europe: Bayer Reinvents Security Awareness to Counter AI Threats
