EPISODE 17: F.U.D Off! Cybersecurity Awareness Beyond Compliance and Boredom

Compromising Positions - A Cyber Security Podcast

Welcome to Compromising Positions!

The tech podcast that asks non-cybersecurity professionals what we in the industry can do to make their lives easier and help make our organisations more prepared to face ever-changing human-centric cyber threats!
This Episode we are joined by Damjan Obal, Head of design at Ardoq, lecturer and international speaker on all things design and data.

In this episode, F.U.D OFF! - Cybersecurity Awareness Beyond Compliance and Boredom, we learn from Damjan about the importance of storytelling, the difference between game theory and gamification, what accessibility champions get so right that we in security get it so wrong, and how to design a security awareness programme that resonates with people and encourages empathy and behavioural change.

F.U.D - Fear, uncertainty and Doubt have been a mainstay in cybersecurity messaging but is it serving us or is it just turning people off our messaging? Find in this episode if there is another way and if we should just tell F.U.D to F.U.D off for good!

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In this Episode we cover:

How to use storytelling effectively: Why do we only talk about the stuff nobody cares about when we have such great stories to tell!

Finding your ‘WHY’: The first steps towards making your security engagements salient, relevant and focused on the bigger picture

Game Theory vs. Gamification: How do you use either effectively to make security awareness training more interesting and relevant

F.U.D Off: Why fear-mongering doesn’t work and how the odd joke might engage your audience better

Lessons from the world of accessibility: Learning how the principles of good accessibility might lead to better security controls and buy-in

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Links to everything we discussed in this episode can be found in the show notes and if you liked the show, please do leave us a review.

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We hope you enjoyed this episode - See you next time, keep secure, and don’t forget to ask yourself, ‘Am I the compromising position here?’

Keywords: cybersecurity, compliance, user experience, storytelling, human-computer interaction, behaviour change, security champions, accessibility

Show Notes

Using Cartoons to Teach Internet Security - Sukamol Srikwan and Markus Jakobsson

I couldn’t find the bank that interviewed its customers - Sorry! - If you know do tell us and we’ll update the show notes!

About Damjan Obal

As a Head of design at Ardoq, Damjan works with internal and external stakeholders to help asset-heavy industries understand, orchestrate, and operationalize their data. As part of the team working on data products, his research focuses on data observability and data quality.

He spends days uncovering user needs and helping R&D teams turn those needs and challenges into business opportunities.

Previously, he led user experience teams with Cognizant, Pexip, and Cisco, and before that managed the global UX team at Entain.

LINKS FOR Damjan Obal

Ardoq

Damjan’s Website

Damjan’s LinkedIn