Protect Your Assets! Human Behavior + IT Security

Does security truly start with people?

Absolutely! The reason being is that the security community promotes connections across any organization.  Once an organization has instilled in the people that security belongs to everyone, the culture can become sustainable because everyone is all in.  Just like with anything else, human behavior and human error can compromise the security culture (Kim & Solomon, 2018, p. 321).  For instance, in the scenario where someone holds the door open to let another person in the building, this illustrates human behavior, seeing that "technically" we know that it is polite to hold the door for one another.  However, does this social etiquette apply to a security-focused culture?  On the other hand, technical reasons such as being overwhelmed with the number of passwords can cause people to write down their passwords.  With that, one can conclude, "employees are not connecting the dots between security best practices they are taught and behavior in their work and personal lives" (Kilcarr, 2015). 

Human behavior and human error can compromise the security culture.

Intern

Fearless IT