Cybersecurity has a fear problem, and we need to talk about it as a community. To quote the sci-fi epic Dune, fear is the mind-killer. In business, fear is also the growth and innovation killer –yet all too often, cyber security has associated itself with fear, and as a result, instead of enabling, it has stifled the growth settings we need the most now. This needs to stop. But how?
For starters, we need to take a hard look at how our industry sells itself. Cyber security has long been seen as a serious, grownup business. Companies in the space double down on dark brand palettes and threatening messages, and some ambulance chases each new breach in the media with “I told you so” comments. Many promote their staff of ex-military, former spies and signal intelligence experts. Fair enough on that last point. Cyber is deeply technical and necessarily touches on these shadowy worlds and highly specialised skills. There are key technical threats, defined criminal and state actor exploits and attack vectors, as well as constantly emerging risks that require identification, education and expert handling.
But do we really need to twin professional excellence with…
