It's not just about the technology, it's also about the psychology.

Presented at BSides Austin 2016, March 31, 2016, 3:30 p.m. (60 minutes)

We have all heard it before: in the cyber security world, the weakest link is between the keyboard and the seat. But why is that? Most, if not all, organizations attribute this weakness to a lack of training and technical savviness. Over the last few years, investments in these areas have increased along with the investment in technology. Yet, there still seems to be human error or bad behavior behind the most expensive data breaches in history. All these costly attacks have one thing in common: exploiting the human mind instead of the technology. No matter how techy we are, our pre-disposition to think and behave in a certain way is what leads us to open the doors to the hackers. Behavioral economics and cognitive psychology have long been exploited to influence and shape the decision making process and the behaviors to achieve a certain goal. It's time to think like a hacker and use this same strategy to defend the organization by shaping long lasting cyber resilience behaviors. In this presentation, we will introduce you to some of the most common mental models that hackers exploit. Then we will present a unique systems approach that allows organizations to reduce human error while shaping cyber resilient behaviors.

Presenters:

  • Hend Ezzeddine
    Hend is the Cybersecurity Practice Director at Expressworks, a change management consultancy. She has over 10 years of experience helping clients implement and adopt cutting edge IT solutions. Her focus is on designing organizational capabilities that enable a complete business transformation and maximizes ROI of major IT Programs. In the Cybersecurity space, Hend's work is primarily focused on the human element and leverages cognitive behaviors to reduce user errors and establish safer behaviors. She holds a Ph.D in Organizational Design and Innovation Management. Hend is the author of a number of scholarly articles and blogs on various topics. Flora Moon Bio: Flora Moon has been engaged in designing user experience for her entire multi-decade career. As a filmmaker she engaged audiences with award winning content. In high technology she was part of the start up team that brought high speed internet service to Houston. As a management consultant she has been responsible for user experience and insights for web technologies and ERP systems. Currently a Senior Manager for Expressworks, a change management consultancy that helps clients navigate systemic and culture change, Flora has led change management strategy and execution for enterprise programs since 2008.

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