Cyber Empathy

Whenever someone says humans are the weakest link in cybersecurity, besides educating through fear, they are crafting a narrative, creating a reality in people's heads, and making them feel helpless against cyber criminals.  My guest, Lianne Potter , feels utterly differently about how to educate people on cybersecurity. Instead of fear, she advocates for empowering them through trust, autonomy, a...

Joshua Corman is a security strategist, philosopher, and co-founder of I am The Cavalry, a collective of professionals from technology, law, and public policy who work to mitigate the impact software-enabled and always-connected devices have on public safety and human life.  We had a deeply moving conversation about Joshua's influential work in cybersecurity, the birth of I Am The Cavalry, and his...

Javvad is a brilliant Security Awareness Advocate, Speaker, sharp industry commentator, and one of the most prolific bloggers in the community. His natural talent for making the cybersecurity industry's most technical and complicated matters easy to understand is a gift and an inspiration.   Join me as Javvad masterfully dissects the negativity and the rationalization bias, using brilliant analogi...

How many accounts on different websites do you have?  Sharing our personal information online as a condition to access content has become a reflex. We hit the "I've read and agree to the terms and conditions" button without thinking about it. In fact, only a handful would notice if anything else is written in that box.  Yet things are starting to change; those worried about data privacy aren't onl...

If you boil cybersecurity down to its essence, you'll find a hacker doing their best to educate, communicate, and help people see the world the way they do: with curiosity and the innate desire to understand it and make it better.  Yet what's the community reaction when a message fails to land as expected? It’s (still too) often victim-blaming, a sarcastic remark, or a vague piece of advice to do...

I’ve had dozens of conversations exploring the need for empathy and compassion in cybersecurity, from supporting victims of cybercrime to acknowledging the data we protect are not numbers on a screen but real people’s experiences.  Yet the transformation empathy is capable of goes way beyond cybersecurity. It seeps into the teams and companies we build, the relationships we influence through techn...

In an industry whose goal is to protect people, purely profit-driven marketing makes no sense - and certainly doesn’t work. After over a decade of running digital marketing for high-growth B2B technology startups, my guest, Dani Woolf, realized marketing is wildly different in information security.  It took her four years after joining the cybersecurity industry in 2018 to create Audience 1st, a c...

The blame game is a strong reflex in cybersecurity for many people. Pointing fingers at the human error that caused the breach, complaining about the CEO who didn't invest enough resources or training in cybersecurity, and taking it out on the CISO are all common occurrences. And they don’t help anyone .  Blaming harms everything that empathy in cybersecurity represents and works so hard to change...

Cybersecurity has a human heartbeat.  The variety of backgrounds that people in this space have enriches an industry that is day by day more interested in its human side. Different experiences bring new perspectives and ways of doing things to a community that craves human connection.  Our guest, the extraordinary Maril Vernon , is the perfect example. Coming from the social media marketing space,...

A̶l̶m̶o̶s̶t̶ every route in cybersecurity lands on empathy. Despite its ultimate goal of protecting data, information security remains a people-focused discipline, with paths that lead to it as varied as they come.  Yet the magic happens when hackers with the most unconventional backgrounds use their hacking skills to break down things and reconnect them in surprising ways. My guest, Pete Herzog ,...

Among the undeniable advantages of the hyperconnected world we learned to live in, some adverse effects lurk behind the algorithm's rewards. They’re damaging our personal and professional relationships and younger generations' sense of reciprocity, attention span, and ability to assess danger.  Our world is already a mesh between digital and analog experiences, rapidly leaning into making virtual...

The world has seen many transformations in the workspace during the last few years; some of them stuck, some didn't. Workers prioritizing personal relationships over economic benefits, for instance, is not considered a fad anymore; it is the norm.   The relationship people developed with their jobs has radically changed, and empathy played a major role in that transformation. Slowly but surely, we...

In today's episode, I'm joined by one of the first people who raised the empathy flag in cybersecurity and inspired the creation of this podcast, Jayson E. Street. Despite National Geographic describing him as a "World Class Hacker," he sees himself simply as a Hacker, a Helper, and a Human.  Discover the transformative power of conscious kindness as he bares his soul in a deeply personal and hear...

The "good vs. evil" battle is an integral part of cybersecurity's origin story. While it’s motivating and energizing, it also comes with language derived from military vocabulary, that brings a certain level of hostility and aggression.  That’s why, often, the language we use in cybersecurity alienates the very people we’re trying to help.  In this episode, the kind and compassionate Dr. Jessica B...

“Knowing and not doing is the same as not knowing .” Join Sebastian Avarvarei and myself as we dive deep into the layers of self-development, cybersecurity, and the crucial blend of technical acumen with soft skills. Sebastian, with his rich experience in security, sheds light on his evolution from proficient technical leader to becoming a deeply compassionate leader in the cybersecurity industry....

"To see others more clearly, set aside your opinions, advice, and judgment, and put their truth above your own." Greg McKeown In this episode, as an opener for Cyber Empathy's fourth season, I'll take you through some updates on the show and my personal life and share the topics we will be exploring this season. I’ll share how my loved ones’ unconditional love supported me through the taxing situa...

Thinking of The Hacker Manifesto solely as a rant against corporations, the government, and all authorities is reductive. The volume also appeals to curiosity and a constructive rebellious spirit, which form the basis of hacker culture. Curiosity fuels hackers to break things down and figure out how they work so they can improve them. It also drives them to ask questions that are different, unexpe...

Regardless of the power, wealth, or influence a person or company might have, the only thing that can protect them from being hacked is another great (ethical) hacker. Although the dark side of cybersecurity has several routes to explore and experiment with, they all have the same destination, and – spoiler alert – it is never a happy place. That’s why empathy in cybersecurity is about picking a s...

Do you know what happens when "the ask is too high and the trust is too low" in cybersecurity? Requests related to cybersecurity fall flat.  If you’re frustrated that clients and colleagues don’t see the value of your work and don’t take your advice to heart, this episode offers the fix you need.  Along with Advisory CISO and Cybersecurity Strategist J. Wolfgang Goerlich (“Wolf”) , we delve into t...

Many young writers feel every subject in cybersecurity has already been exhausted. This is probably true for many topics, but that doesn't mean the conversation is over.  Diversity is one of the industry's main traits, which means people from around the world can (and should!) bring their own perspectives and experiences, making an already culturally wealthy space even richer. Today's guest is Joe...

What do Hercules and ancient Greek philosophers have to do with cybersecurity? Today’s guest, Anastasios Arampatzis , Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Specialist and Cybersecurity Content Writer, helps us make that connection and draw inspiration from stories that have remained relevant for millenia.  Anastasios reminds us that we need more heroes in cybersecurity to help people turn their relations...

Psychological safety doesn't just help performance. It also creates space for us to name problems, admit vulnerabilities, and then find ways to get better. Besides keeping technology safe to use, cybersecurity also needs to protect the people using it. Arguably, this is the most important goal for this industry. That’s why cybersecurity specialists are responsible for making things safer, but also...

Everyone who works in cybersecurity needs this reminder from time to time: people who are not in this space aren’t obsessed with the latest attacks and their impact. They probably don’t care at all because they already have other difficult projects they’re working on or personal issues that stretch them thin.  Any security team that wants to be effective and make a difference needs to keep this id...

Poor communication is a major roadblock in getting people to adopt cyber-safe habits. It also created a major disconnect between information security specialists and the people they serve.  For instance, threat-filled emails with a negative or sometimes threatening tone only confuse non-IT experts who need simple explanations and psychological safety to learn.  This makes empathy essential in the...

People are critical to advancing cybersecurity on all fronts, whether it’s keeping an organization safe or building safer software. Using security software or rolling out an awareness course is not enough. You need to understand how people interact with the system and where following best practices fails them – and why. This allows the creation of user-friendly policies that make people feel suppo...