Human-Centered Security

We start the episode discussing a very serious topic: emojis. Then we get back to your regularly scheduled programming.

How would you approach security if you were building something from scratch? How would you address security user experience challenges? Darren Thomas and Margaret Cunningham from Wethos AI talk about how they’ve built security into their product and how cross-disciplinary collaboration helps them improve the security user experience.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How to build security into your product development lifecycle when you need move quickly.
• How to anticipate—and design for—security and privacy concerns.
• Why getting users to the product’s value faster and relates to the security user experience.

Darren Thomas is the co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Wethos AI, a platform that helps people and teams connect and understand one another to improve both individual and team performance. Darren is also the founding team member and head of product at NumberOne AI. A veteran in product management within the security industry, Darren has previously worked at Tenable and McAfee.

Margaret Cunningham is an experimental psychologist and is Chief Scientist at Wethos AI. Previously, Margaret was Senior Staff Behavioral Engineer, Security & Privacy at Robinhood and Principal Research Scientist for Human Behavior at Forcepoint’s X-Lab. Check out the Margaret’s first interview on the Human-Centered Security podcast (Episode 9).

When your website says, “we value your privacy,” how do users interpret that statement? How do they experience “privacy” in your product? What messages are you conveying--perhaps unintentionally? Privacy expert Michelle Finneran Dennedy helps designers think about privacy in the context of the user experience.

In this episode, we talk about:

• What does privacy mean?
• How, as designers, we give the user ideas of what to expect around privacy—an opportunity to erode or foster trust.
• The approach her team took at McAfee when it came to redesigning their privacy policy.
• Starting with ethics—and revving that “ethical engine.”
• Who should designers reach out to about privacy at their organization? What should they ask?

Michelle Finneran Dennedy is a privacy expert, the co-founder of Privacy Code, and was formerly Chief Privacy Officer at McAfee. She is the co-author of The Privacy Engineer’s Manifesto.

Designing for the security user experience is challenging because if security controls are too complex or burdensome, users may bypass them, which compromises security. Additionally, the constant evolution of threats means that effective security controls must be continuously updated to stay ahead of threat actors. In other words, what may have been relatively effective yesterday might not be effective tomorrow. Exactly why the security user experience is so exciting!

Thankfully, Kevin Goldman shares my enthusiasm. Kevin is a design executive whose most recent focus has been in identity and access management. Kevin is the Chair of the UX Working Group at the FIDO Alliance, a nonprofit global industry organization that has developed the standards for passkeys.

During this episode, Kevin and I talk about: 

• How to get buy-in for a human-centered approach to the security user experience.
• A key moment when Kevin and in his team faced a UX challenge with passkeys that forced them to take a step back and re-evaluate their approach.
• The surprising findings and resolution after they dug deeper to understand the problem.
• How Kevin worked with his cross-disciplinary team members to identify tradeoffs in usability and security and how they worked through them.

UX folks are great at asking questions about AI and that’s exactly what we do in this episode. But “questions” sounds boring so we gave the set of questions a fancy name: a UX of AI framework. UX researcher John Robertson describes the UX of AI framework he and his team helped build.

In this episode, we talk about:

• The importance of a human-centered design approach to AI.
• The need to slow down and consider safety, privacy, and ethics as part of implementing AI.
• Looking beyond the data: each data point represents a human.
• The need to build and maintain trust in the AI user experience.
• Understanding how humans and AI can work as teammates and how that dynamic might play out.

John Robertson is a skilled UX researcher with a background in neuroscience and experience working at organizations such as American Airlines, IBM, and Visa. Currently he is a Senior Principal UX Researcher for a cybersecurity software company implementing quantitative and qualitative methods to create human centered security analyst experiences.

In the episode, we reference:

Analyzing Qualitative User Data at Enterprise Scale with AI: The GE Case Study by Jakob Nielsen

Do Users Write More Insecure Code With AI Assistants?

If there’s one thing both UX teams and security teams can empathize with each other on is being involved too late in the development process. Ali Cuthbertson and Jason Telner realized that it wasn’t enough for teams to embrace the need for UX and security—they needed a method for integrating them into their agile development processes.

Throughout the interview, Ali and Jason will be referencing a project they worked on together to help develop and foster a consistent process for integrating UX and security into an agile development process for teams at IBM. As a result of their work, they developed a set of principles and best practices. They talk about:

• How a set of principles can serve as a guide for teams.
• Why integrating UX and security involved a cultural shift for teams in order to be successful.
• Why support from leadership is instrumental for new processes to be effective.
• Tips for leveraging mixed methods user research to look at problems from different angles.
• How to measure the success of embedding UX and security into existing processes.

Ali and Jason presented some of their research and recommendations at the 2023 UXPA presentation called “How to balance strong user experiences with enhanced security within an agile framework? Lessons learned and best practices.”

Ali Cuthbertson is the Technical Vitality Development Manager and CIO Design Program Manager at IBM. Ali brings over 20 years of seasoned expertise navigating software and hardware engineering. She has become the Indiana Jones of life sciences, user experience, talent management, vitality optimization, security protocols, AI advancements, data analytics, scientific exploration, and cutting edge cloud technologies.

Jason Telner, PhD, is a senior user researcher within IBM’s CIO design user research and data analytics team. Jason has over 15 years of experience working within the field of user research. In his current role at IBM, Jason’s focus has been on improving the user experience of employee support applications such as chatbots, web support, and voice interface support.

Ever wonder what it’s like to design enterprise cybersecurity software? Tom Keenoy, a design leader for a cybersecurity company, explains why what you learned in design school may not apply when you’re building software for specialized power users (think: security analysts, IT administrators, devops).

• How do you get up-to-speed when designing for complex domains like cybersecurity?
• How do you adapt your design process for enterprise power users (spoiler: stripping away information isn’t always the right answer)?
• How to prioritize when “everyone wants to build all the cool things.”
• Why Tom thinks much of a designer’s job is “de-risking.”
• The most important skills designers need to be successful in building enterprise security software.

Tom Keenoy is a design leader who loves building technical products for power users. At various points in his career he’s been a designer, an educator, an engineer, a product manager, and a startup founder. He’s currently leading a design team at a cybersecurity company and advising growth stage startups to help right-size their UX and product design programs.

Ever encountered a CAPTCHA and thought to yourself, “whoever decided to put this here must really hate people”? It turns out, the people who make the decisions to use CAPTCHAs hate them as much as you do. Jason Puglisi, an application security engineer, describes what teams like his think about when evaluating potential solutions to a security issue. (Spoiler: you’ll be pleased to know these considerations include how security solutions may affect the user experience).

• The surprising similarities between UX and security teams.
• What designers need to know about information security risks, as well as how designers can help security teams understand the UX tradeoffs they may be making.
• What designers can do to more effectively collaborate with their cross-disciplinary teams, including the security engineering team.
• What to consider when designing for users in higher-risk scenarios—users who have privileged access and are operating at scale (for example, if your end users are engineers, IT professionals, or security analysts).

Jason Puglisi is an application security engineer at a financial technology company. He performs ethical hacking to discover vulnerabilities, guide solutions, and inform organization-wide security measures. Human security is a particular passion of his, including security culture, awareness, and various aspects of social engineering.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Questions you should be asking to uncover information security threats early on in the design process.
• How to account for human behavior in a structured way as part of threat modeling (spoiler: this is not so different from what you are doing now).
• How to collaborate with an interdisciplinary team as part of an iterative design process to improve the user experience of security.

Adam Shostack is an expert on threat modeling, having worked at Microsoft and currently running security consultancy Shostack + Associates. He is the author of The New School of Information Security, Threat Modeling: Designing for Security and the forthcoming Threats: What Every Engineer Should Learn From Star Wars. Adam’s YouTube channel has entertaining videos that are also excellent resources for learning about threat modeling.

In this episode we talk about:

• How designing for security is different from (and the same as) designing for other types of experiences.
• How to tackle aspects of the user experience that may be necessary but are perceived as annoying roadblocks.
• How to anticipate where things might go wrong for the user.
• How to effectively collaborate with technical teams.

Bethany Sonefeld is the founder of Create With Conscience, a space dedicated to educating and committing to building healthier technology. Create With Conscience was something Bethany developed out of interest in creating a healthier balance of technology in her own life. Bethany is a design manager at Duo Security and was previously at Cloudflare, RetailMeNot, and IBM.

Blair Shen is a product designer at Duo Security and was previously at Cloudflare and Harry&David. She is also a YouTube content creator, where she mentors and coaches aspiring UX designers.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How do you tackle situations where business goals might be at odds with what’s ethical or what’s best for the human using the product?
• How can designers make a difference even if they don’t have a leadership role at their organization?
• How do you anticipate potentially unhealthy behaviors or unintended consequences? 
• What are some actionable steps you can take today?

Bethany Sonefeld is the founder of Create With Conscience, a space dedicated to educating and committing to building healthier technology. Create With Conscience was something Bethany developed out of interest in creating a healthier balance of technology in her own life. Bethany is a design manager at Duo Security and was previously at Cloudflare, RetailMeNot, and IBM.

How do the UX, product, and technology teams effectively collaborate when it comes to security? How do we, as part of the UX team, take part in the security conversations and what role do we play?

In this episode, we talk about:

• How Michael’s user research for dating apps helped him understand the unintended consequences of digital products on our behaviors.
• Why we need new frameworks for security and privacy in the digital world.
• How users’ perceptions and expectations for security and privacy are highly contextual and changing. 
• How to break down the user experience of security so your team isn’t treading water in the abstract and can take steps to improve security outcomes.

Michael Snell is the UX research team lead at JPMorgan Chase managing research focused on security and authentication. He previously worked at Microsoft and Verizon Connect. He has a PhD in psychology from the University of Georgia.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Where the fields of cognitive psychology, security, and user experience meet.
• Why Jeremiah and his team chose to investigate graphical authentication.
• How they cleverly incorporated testing both usability and security in their two-part study.
• The importance of research around learnability: is it easy for users to learn how to use your new authentication schema?

Read Jeremiah’s research: Usability Comparison of Over-the-Shoulder Attack Resistant Authentication Schemes. 

Jeremiah is the Director of Human Factors, Ph.D. Track and Associate Professor of Psychology and the School of Cybersecurity at Old Dominion University. He runs the Psychology of Design Laboratory, which focuses on human cognition and technology, including usable security.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why technical users expect a great user experience just like everyone else.
• How to find and incentivize participants who are extremely busy.
• How to support users in making a decision without telling them what to do.
• Deciding what data to show and how to show it.

Tanja Venborg Hansen is a seasoned user researcher who has worked in both the enterprise cybersecurity (Forcepoint) and aviation industries (Finnair). She earned a master of science degree focused on design and innovation from the Technical University of Denmark.

In this episode, we talk about:

• What is responsible innovation and where can companies get started?
• How can companies take guiding principles, establish a framework, and operationalize that framework in a way that “informs decision-making in a meaningful way”?
• How are regulations impacting responsible innovation programs?
• What happens when an organization’s business model conflicts with responsible innovation principles?

Chloe Poynton is the co-founder and principal at Article One Advisors, a management consultancy with expertise in human rights, responsible innovation, and social impact.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why security UX requires “selective usability” and how that poses unique challenges for designers.
• Thinking about security in terms of safety systems: putting the burden on the system rather than on the user.
• How to work effectively with the security team.

And Jared shares lots of examples.

Jared Spool is the founder of UX consultancy UIE and the co-founder of UX design school Center Centre. Interested in hearing more about what Jared has to say about the security of UX? Watch the talk: Insecure and Unintuitive: Why We Need to Fix the Security of UX.

In this episode, we talk about:

• What’s next for the cybersecurity awareness industry.
• How to leverage qualitative and quantitative metrics (with similar challenges and opportunities to measuring the user experience).
• How to go about understanding and changing your organization’s cybersecurity culture.

Kate Brett Goldman is the Founder and CEO of Cybermaniacs, an innovative cybersecurity awareness company. Prior to founding Cybermaniacs, Kate spent over 20 years developing solutions that encourage human and organizational change in enterprise IT.

In this episode we talk about:

• Building a system in a way that, as Ira says, “a user cannot initiate a loss”
• What designers need to know about prevention, detection, and reaction when it comes to security 
• What we can learn from safety science 
• How designers can get a seat at the table when it comes to human security engineering

Ira Winkler is the founder of Secure Mentem and Chief Information Security Officer at Skyline Technology Soutions. He is the author of seven books on security, the latest of which is You Can Stop Stupid (discussed in this episode). He also has a new book in the works, Security Awareness for Dummies, which will be available in 2022.

In this episode we talk about:

• The security risks associated with IoT devices.
• Why IoT devices can be less secure than, for example, a mobile device.
• Supply chain security.
• How UX designers can more effectively communicate risk to their users.

Prior to founding Finite State, Matt spent 15 years leading the research and development of advanced solutions to some of the hardest problems in cyber security, with experience across the spectrum of offensive and defensive cyber operations. Notably, he was the technical founder and CTO of Battelle's Cyber Innovations business unit. Throughout his career, Matt has spearheaded complex national security programs ranging from detection of malicious integrated circuits in the supply chain to next generation intrusion detection systems for low-power embedded systems. Matt directed numerous intelligence programs related to the security of embedded and IoT devices and has been a speaker on the subject at events around the world.

You can follow Finite State on Twitter and LinkedIn.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How anthropology can help security teams uncover the “why” behind security breaches.
• Why it’s important for designers to familiarize themselves with information security risk management. 
• What designers should know about quality assurance applied to security.
• How to fight for the time needed to build security into products.

Patricia Ensworth is a business anthropologist whose work focuses on the human factors affecting the development and maintenance of innovative products, services, and systems. As a technology project manager at leading global financial services firms (Merrill Lynch, Moody’s UBS, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley) she came to specialize in risk analysis and quality assurance, often recently in relation to cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Her consulting firm Harborlight Management Services LLC provides organizational research and management training to clients in a broad range of industries, as well as government agencies and non-profits. She is the author of The Accidental Project Manager: Surviving the Transition from Techie to Manager (Wiley 2001) and numerous technical articles about multicultural teamwork in software engineering. She is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor teaching in a graduate business degree program at New York University.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why human factors is important when it comes to cybersecurity and why it’s still a relatively unexplored topic.
• The importance of communication and empathy in cybersecurity.
• Dr. Robinson’s research around low and medium vulnerabilities—and how their potential use in combination warrants additional attention.
• Dr. Robinson’s most recent research around “vulnerability chaining blindness” and why the words we use and a shared understanding are crucial for making progress in cybersecurity.

Dr. Nikki Robinson is a Security Architect and holds a Doctorate of Science in CyberSecurity, as well as several industry certifications (CISSP, CEH, MCITP, etc). She is currently working on a PhD in Human Factors and research in blending psychology and cybersecurity. With a background in IT Operations and Engineering, she moved into security several years ago.

• Connect with Dr. Nikki Robinson on LinkedIn
• Listen to Dr. Nikki Robinson’s podcast: The Resilient Cyber Podcast

During this episode, we talk about:

• How an insider threat at her own company led Robin into cybersecurity.
• Why looking at the human side of errors and using a framework like HFCAS can help identify the root cause of the problem.
• How Robin’s research challenges the idea that “humans are the weakest link.”
• How HFACS can be applied to cybersecurity’s existing frameworks.

Robin Bylenga is a seasoned client-facing expert, having drawn her initial skills early in her career as a flight attendant. Prior to entering cybersecurity, she was the CEO and Founder of Pedal Chic, the first women-specific bike shop in North America. She built the brand, won national awards, and designed a full line of bicycles for a niche market. Then her company suffered an insider threat attack. That experience changed the course of her life and brought her to a new career and the opportunity to adapt the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (HFACS) framework to cyber.

Learn more about Robin's research at https://hfacs-cyber.com/

In this episode, we talk about:

• How security experts can more effectively communicate with end users.
• The issue of delayed consequences in the digital realm and how that impacts how people behave.
• The role accountability plays in improving information security.

Ryan Cloutier is the principal security consultant for SecurityStudio. He is an experienced IT/cybersecurity professional with over 15 years experience developing cybersecurity programs for Fortune 500 organizations. Ryan is a virtual Chief Information Security Officer for K12 districts across the country and is Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and is proficient in cloud security, dev-ops, and sec-ops methodologies, security policy, process, audit, compliance, network security, and application security architecture. Ryan also co-hosts a weekly security podcast and is included on the top 100 most influential people in cybersecurity.

You can also find Ryan:

• On Twitter @cloutiersec
• On The Security Shitshow
• During the episode, Ryan mentions S2me (by SecurityStudio), a free security risk assessment resource

In this episode we talk about:

• Thinking about cybersecurity risk from a UX practitioner’s perspective.
• Balancing ease of use while not introducing unnecessary risk.
• Building personas and scenarios for bad actors so you can make conscious decisions about how controls might be circumvented.
• The importance of content strategy and collaborating with UX writers.
• Tips for conducting user research when it’s difficult to get access to end users.

Natalie Hill is a senior product designer with over 20 years of professional experience and a Master of Science in Information Studies. Her niche is enterprise UX. She loves finding elegant solutions to complex design problems and understanding the psychology that drives human behavior. Natalie considers cybersecurity one of the most important things in the world and has spent the last four years designing network, web, and email security solutions.

Natalie is a seasoned guitar player who enjoys playing live with a band in non-pandemic times. She is also on the board of directors of the nonprofit Girls Rock Austin, an organization dedicated to empowering girls, transgender, and non-binary youth through music education, mentorship, and self-care.

During this episode, we talk about:

• Why looking for a silver bullet for cybersecurity is hopeless. Like any human issue, it is a multi-dimensional and complex.
• Expectations versus outcomes: how we must take into account how “things will play out when you involve people.”
• "Changing how people think and behave is complicated, non-linear, painstaking, and does not conform to your expectations.” Despite this, understanding and accounting for people when it comes to cybersecurity is critically important.
• What organizations are missing and what organizations are doing well when it comes to accounting for people in cybersecurity.

Alexander Stein, PhD is an expert in human behavior and decision-making, and founder and managing principal of Dolus Advisors, a pyschodynamic management consultancy that advises CEOs, senior management teams, and boards in issues involving leadership, culture, governance, ethics, risk, and other organizational matters with complex psychological underpinnings. Dr. Stein is an internationally regarded authority in human risk and the psychodynamics of fraud and is frequently engaged as a specialist advisor in multi-jurisdictional, corruption, and executive misconduct matters and also helps companies mitigate and address human factor vulnerabilities in cybersecurity. He also consults with companies that develop and deliver technologies that assume decision-making functions in human affairs to mitigate unintended consequences to people, organizations, and society. Dr. Stein is a widely published and cited writer and thought leader, currently a regular contributor to Forbes on the psychology of leadership and misbehavior in business, and a frequent podcast and webinar guest, on-camera expert commentator, and keynote speaker and panelist.

Find more information on Dr. Stein and Dolus Advisors:

• Dolus Advisors
• The Briefing, Dolus Advisors’ periodic digest of thought-leadership and analysis
• Dr. Stein on LinkedIn
• Dolus Advisors on LinkedIn
• Humans and technology: A complicated and fascinating pair, RSA Conference Podcast, Episode 33, March 3, 2020
• To Phish or Not to Phish? That is the Question, Wizer Training Webinar, January 13, 2021
• Pitfalls of Outsourcing Self-Awareness to AI, Forbes, January 6, 2019 

Laura Nespoli is founder of Meshin Movement, a brand strategy consultancy. Laura has spent her career serving as a strategic problem-solver and brand storyteller across the sales marketing spectrum in many facets--from agency to client-side, media to creative, market

research to integrated marketing planning. Her professional focus is in helping brands and teams reveal business opportunity and advantage while her passion is rooted in inspiring ideas that serve the world for greater good. 

During this episode we talk about:

• Incorporating cybersecurity into the "fabric of your organization’s brand."
• How to create meaning and understanding that leads to a new behavior.
• The FOGG Behavior Model: motivation, ability, and a prompt must converge for a behavior to happen.
• How to deal with our natural aversion to complexity.
• How purpose is a way to create more unified understanding of what everyone is working towards and helps people put more meaning around the security-related tasks that may have otherwise been perceived as meaningless. 

Dr. Margaret Cunningham is an experimental psychologist and the Principal Research Scientist for Human Behavior at Forcepoint’s X-Lab.  In this role, she serves as the behavioral science subject matter expert in an interdisciplinary security team driving the development of human-centric security solutions. Previously, she supported the Human Systems Integration branch of The Department of Homeland Security.  

In this episode, we talk about:

• Why saying “people are the weakest link” is not a productive mindset when it comes to cybersecurity.
• How we can thoughtfully create systems/designs that mitigate the risk of human limitations.
• The Human Factors Analysis and Classification System (whether you are in UX or cybersecurity, you will likely find this framework interesting).
• The nuances around errors and rulebreaking and how we can, ideally, learn from our employees’ behavior to make the systems and the organization better.

Brian Murphy, a security specialist at GreyCastle Security, is a technology, information security, and risk management professional. He assists with the development and implementation of cybersecurity solutions for a variety of industries. Brian has knowledge of PCI, SOX, GLBA compliance requirements, as well as ISO and NIST standards and regulations.

On this episode we talk about:

• How we are constantly doing risk assessments in our everyday life. At least, we should be.
• How using analogies and stories help people connect with something new, like cybersecurity.
• Shifting the mindset to ensure the cybersecurity team's goals tie back to the business’ goals.
• The importance of culture and providing an environment where employees and the cybersecurity team are constantly learning.

Dr. Nobles is a cybersecurity scientist and human factors practitioner with more than 25 years of experience. He retired from the U.S. Navy and currently works in the financial services industry. Dr. Nobles recently completed a Cybersecurity Policy Fellowship with the New America Think Tank in Washington, D.C.

In this episode we talk about:

• What human factors is and what a human factors engineer does.
• Chronic fatigue and stress in the cybersecurity industry.
• What approaches the aviation industry has taken to address the likelihood of human error.
• What leaders at organizations can do to embrace human factors and design systems that are "more favorable to humans."

Alex is the EY Americas Cybersecurity Lead for Secure Culture Activation. With a background in sports broadcasting and operational security, she is experienced in security communications and education, awareness program development, the psychology of social engineering, and behavior analytics. In her free time, she is a mother of three and she volunteers with law enforcement agencies and neighborhood organizations to educate community members, elder care organizations, children and parents on information security and social media safety.

During this episode, we’re focusing on what successful organizations are doing to manage risk. We talk about:

• Why it’s difficult for people to understand risk in the digital realm.
• Why taking the time to “brand” security at the organization is important.
• How organizations can foster an open dialogue around security to encourage engagement and lasting behavior changes.
• How field visits can be used to develop more effective solutions for awareness and behavior change.

Yan Grinshtein is an HCI and accessibility certified human-centered design leader, speaker, and mentor. Currently the head of design at HYPR, Yan has over 20 years of experience as a creative and design leader. He has worked on three different continents across four countries with companies ranging from Fortune 500 to startups, some of which have become multi-billion dollar companies today. You can follow Yan on Medium or Linkedin.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How to design better, more thoughtful solutions when users try to get around security.
• How conducting your own user research helps you question your team's assumptions and, even better, leads to product-defining insights.
• Why it's important to invest in the user experience of advanced/technical users (like administrators).

Christian Rohrer is Senior Director, User Experience at McAfee, returning to the company after a 5-year hiatus during which he was Founder and Principal at XD Strategy, a UX strategy consultancy, and former Vice President of Design, Research and Enterprise Services at Capital One. He has also led UX teams at Realtor.com, eBay, and Yahoo!. Christian holds a Bachelors in Computer Science from UC Santa Cruz and a Ph.D in Cognitive Science and Education from Stanford University.

Christian not only has a deep understanding of the complex cybersecurity ecosystem, he also appreciates the challenges in getting stakeholder buy-in to ensure the user experience is prioritized.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Human-centered design: what is it and why is it important? (we talk about Nielsen Norman Group co-founder and author of the Design of Everyday Things, Don Norman, who has a great video describing the principles of Human-Centered Design)
• The complicated cybersecurity ecosystem and the challenges it presents when designing user experiences. 
• How great user experiences in cybersecurity are "a human and a technology problem to solve."
• How to speak the language of stakeholders by using metrics, including the PURE Method, which Christian co-developed.

In this episode we talk about:

• What Kaliya describes as a new “layer” to the Internet to support decentralized identity, much like how html or email supported what came next.
• The importance of open standards.
• How to build a “digital wallet” paradigm that makes sense to people.
• What SSI means for businesses/business models.

Kaliya is the co-author of “Comprehensive Guide to Self-Sovereign Identity,” and author of “Domains of Identity.” She is also one of the co-founders of the Internet Identity Workshop, which brings together people to help develop open standards for ways people can own and control their digital representations of themselves.

Jim Nelson, Senior Security Consultant for Innovative Solutions, has been working with organizations to help raise their security posture based on their risk for the last 17 years.

In this episode, we talk about:

• How to reframe the security conversation so business owners understand that an investment in security is taking a proactive stance. Ultimately, you have to empathize with business owners.
• Why fear-based tactics may not be the best solution in getting people to care about security.
• Why it's so important to understand the business and its employees before establishing security controls.
• Expectations around security--customers just assume that their data is safe.

Gabriel has been studying human behavior for a long time. His first company, ObserveIT, an insider threat management platform recently acquired by Proofpoint, dealt with monitoring and reporting on out-of-policy employee behavior. Today, as the founder of Wizer, a security awareness training platform, Gabriel is focused on ensuring, as he put it, “security awareness is a basic human skill.” In fact, not only is Wizer’s training user-friendly and in digestible chunks, most of it is free.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Cybersecurity awareness training should start with stories, to connect with people and encourage them to take action.
• Cybersecurity awareness training should then focus on developing the skills that can be applied to a variety of scenarios (as Gabriel says, "we can't teach everything.").
• Make security easy--but roadblocks may necessary to get users to slow down and think.