Month: July 2017

Palo Alto Networks hosted its first-ever diversity panel session at Ignite, our annual end user conference, held this year in Vancouver, Canada. The session, “Embracing Diversity: The Catalyst to Effectively Solve Today’s Toughest Cyber Challenges,” was co-chaired by Carly Chaikin of the popular USA Network cybersecurity TV series “Mr. Robot” and our own Rick Howard, CSO at Palo Alto Networks. The panel was focused on discussing ways to encourage diversity in the field of cybersecurity as a means to protect today’s computing environments, including why different skillsets and cultural perspectives are instrumental in fostering innovation in the space.

Panelists included cybersecurity leaders from different career backgrounds, genders and ethnicities. With speakers from academia, government and industry, the audience heard a range of perspectives on cybersecurity as a career and ways to increase diversity in the field. Our speakers included Suzie Smibert, CISO at Finning International; Christina Ayiotis, co-chair of the advisory board at Georgetown Cybersecurity Law Institute; Teri Takai, former CIO at the U.S. Department of Defense and state of California; Lieutenant General Rhett Hernandez, former Commander of the U.S. Army Cyber Command; and Rinki Sethi, senior director of information security, Palo Alto Networks, U.S.

As a member of the organizing committee for the panel, I had been a little worried that only women would show up to the session, even though men also have an important role to play in increasing diversity in gender, perspectives and backgrounds in the field. However, it was amazing to see the high turnout of male attendees at the session and how much they cared about the diversity challenge in cybersecurity. The event allowed both women and men to share their insights and feelings on the subject. My colleagues and I go to many cybersecurity conferences around the world, and almost always, over 90 percent of audience and speakers at these events are men. It is rare to see female speakers.

According to the Women’s Society of Cyberjutsu, only 11 percent of the information security workforce is women. About 50 percent of IT users are women, so why not increase the ratio of women in cybersecurity to prevent successful cyberattacks and protect the digital age in which we live? It’s clear we need to bring more women into cybersecurity.

It was a full house in the panel room, and the vibe was electric. I sincerely hope that everyone who participated in the event felt inspired to join or stay in the cybersecurity field, or to encourage their colleagues, mentees, daughters and sons to be part of this exciting area. Every panelist emphasized the importance of having the courage to withstand potential judgment of their background or gender, and to bring their unique perspectives to their workplace. Even if some people may judge your past, not your prospects, you have to be brave enough to break away from that negativity, stay true to yourself and shatter the glass ceiling.

This should not discourage you from having a mentor or mentors who can challenge and help you grow professionally. Cybersecurity covers a wide variety of areas of expertise, such as artificial intelligence, business management and strategy, coding, endpoints, legal, networking, government policy, reverse engineering, and threat intelligence, just to name a few. Nobody knows everything about cybersecurity, and this field requires teamwork and collaboration. For this reason, the flexibility to accept different ideas and perspectives is indispensable.

Toward the end of the session, an attendee asked the speakers for career advice. She shared how she felt intimidated and unsure if she was “good enough” to get a new position she was aspiring to have. She’s not alone: A lot of people relate to her in this competitive market. To this courageous question, one panelist encouraged her to avoid using diminishing descriptions about herself and her skillset, and to stand and speak with confidence. This is just the first step to becoming more confident in the workplace and making changes in her professional life.

Cybersecurity is evolving quickly. Those in the field need to be competitive and open to new perspectives to stay up to date on the latest cyberthreats and technology. As Japanese mathematician Dr. Masahiko Fujiwara pointed out in his essay, “Gakumon wo kokorozasu hito he – Hanna heno tegami [To those who want to be in academia – my letter to Hanna],” those who want to be academics need to develop certain characteristics: be intellectually curious, be ambitious, and stay persistent and optimistic, even when things are difficult and you want to give up your goal. This also applies to cybersecurity professionals. If you can keep pushing the envelope for years, you can be anything – a C-suite executive, a general or a top-notch researcher – and pave the way for the next generation of upcoming cybersecurity talent.

Over the last few months, I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with four young women from different backgrounds and nationalities, from an undergraduate student to a mid-career professional. They are passionate about studying technology and policy and finding a job that bridges the gap between the two communities, which have their own unique cultures and languages. Witnessing their intellectual curiosity and ambition during our phone calls and face-to-face meetings made me smile. Many more women around the world are also enthusiastic about cybersecurity, which provides hope for the field as well as for increasing diversity in cybersecurity globally. They are our future.

The diversity panel occurred at the perfect time: right after the Ignite General Session, when Palo Alto Networks President Mark Anderson announced the new partnership between Palo Alto Networks and the Girl Scouts to deliver the first-ever national Girl Scout Cybersecurity badges for girls in grades K–12. This will allow us to work with girls across the U.S. and teach them about the cyberthreat landscape and best practices, as well as provide mentorship for young girls interested in cybersecurity.

I look forward to staying in touch with the diversity panel speakers and participants, and to working with the Girl Scouts to bring new, diversified talents and insights to cybersecurity.

Mihoko Matsubara

[Palo Alto Networks Research Center]

Employees are fast becoming the weakest link in the defence against cybercriminals. Sometimes common sense can only go so far, as you need to make sure that best practices around security don’t go in one ear and out the other. Whether through innocent mistakes or because they were targeted for their access to sensitive information, employee error can easily open the door to malware or information theft.

Successful attacks often involve poor processes and exploit human tendencies. To reduce an organisation’s threat surface, the focus of regular employee training needs to shift from reaction to prevention. Pure compliance-driven approaches have proven to be ineffective for organisations when used for employee security training, usually because it isn’t interesting or personal enough to capture employees’ imaginations. Businesses should focus on educating employees about how to protect their personal data, thereby encouraging employees to enact further security-orientated practices in the workplace.

Employee training may take different forms, including the increasing practice of “gamifying” cybersecurity education programs. Gamification is the process of using gaming mechanics in a non-gaming context, leveraging what is exciting about games and applying it to other types of activities that may not be so fun. Designed with elements of competition and reward, gamification programs are becoming popular because they can be used within a variety of industries.

Many businesses currently use gamification in such areas as customer engagement, and employee education and training to drive performance and motivation. Gaming elements include one-on-one competitions, rewards programs, and more.

There are two key ways business owners can use gamification as a way of addressing cybersecurity in their organisation:

1. Make training more exciting and engaging for employees

Using gamification can help businesses improve their cybersecurity in numerous ways, including showing employees how to avoid cyberattacks and learning about vulnerabilities in software.

Global consulting firm PwC teaches cybersecurity through its Game of Threats. [1] Executives compete against each other in real-world cybersecurity situations, playing as either attackers or defenders. Attackers choose the tactics, methods, and skills of attack, while defenders develop (defence) strategies, and invest in the right technologies and talent to respond to the attack. The game gives executives an understanding of how to prepare for and react to threats, how well-prepared the company is, and what their cybersecurity teams face each day.

Gamifying will help make the training process more exciting and engaging for employees, increasing employee awareness of cybersecurity practices, including how to deal with attacks correctly.

2. Offer incentives and rewards to encourage desired behaviours

Human error is responsible in most security breaches, with employees feeling pressured to complete work by certain deadlines and as quickly as possible, which can result in them overlooking important company policy regarding security.

For example, running so-called PhishMe campaigns can be a great way to train employees on better email security. These include regular phishing emails sent across the organisation, testing the staff’s response and action.

Gamification lets businesses reward those employees who follow security procedures and adhere to the correct security guidelines, which will further promote good behaviour. This may take the form of employees receiving a badge or recording points, which are then displayed on a scoreboard for the office to follow. In some organisations, after employees reach specific milestones, they are presented with a material reward, such as a gift voucher.

This system also allows for the identification of those who display poor behaviour within gamification and may result in the employee needing to complete further cybersecurity training. Recognising and rewarding employees when they do the correct thing leads to continued positive behaviour, motivating employees to undertake safe practices and resulting in a more cyber-secure working environment.

At the heart of any security awareness training is education to teach employees a shared sense of responsibility for the data they work with, and the data they create and use at home. All security awareness campaigns should become part of an ongoing process, not a one-time initiative. Leaders of any business, big or small, can sometimes feel they lack the resources needed to drive an effective cybersecurity education campaign, but this can be done without breaking the bank.

• Visual aids work well. Start with some small videos, posters and/or contests as a reminder to drive the message home for all to understand that security is everyone’s responsibility.
• ‘Fear of God’ tactics do not work. The business goal should be to build a culture of cyber awareness, so treat this like a marketing campaign with the intent to persuade and change the behaviour of an employee.
• Short and concise work best. Long emails always get ignored. Keep them short and fun, and ALWAYS ensure it is a top-down approach. Employees look up to their leaders. If the leaders do not embody a cyber-secure culture, why should the employees? The aim is to educate employees about best practices, not force them to be cybersecurity experts. Make it fun and have a laugh, so everyone can learn at the same time.
• Reinforcement and follow-up are key. Training is a constant; learn from what works and re-educate as needed. Re-test your newly onboarded, as well as existing, staff members on whether they fall for a phishing email, and check to see how many employees still fail to recognise a fake email. Encourage communication to report a fake and call out departmental groups that may be lagging. The aim is not to single people out, but rather create some healthy rivalry within the organisation.

Eliminating cyber risks in any business is an ongoing process, but it can be managed. We need to foster a way for employees to call out where they question something and re-educate as needed. If employees walk away from the security awareness program questioning before they click on something malicious, you have moved the needle towards being more secure.

[1] https://www.pwc.com/us/en/financial-services/cybersecurity-privacy/game-of-threats.html

Sean Duca

[Palo Alto Networks Research Center]