Lance Spitzner: Making security simple - FISSEA NIST Conference

Lance Spitzner: "We’re nothing more than another operating system. The HumanOS.” Day two of the 31st Annual FISSEA conference at NIST kicked off with a Keynote presentation from Lance Spitzner, Director of Security Awareness at SANS.

His Keynote was titled: Making Security Simple - It's Really, Really Hard. Lance was fired up on stage, which in turn got me fired up. I was especially encouraged to hear that when it comes to enhancing security, Lance strongly recommends a focus on making the new behavior as simple as possible. In the case of Paubox and our approach to seamless encryption and HIPAA compliant email, there is no new behavior for senders to learn. Here are my takeaways and pics from his energetic presentation:

• Lance outlined his 3 step process for making Cybersecurity Simple.
• Changing human behavior is key to managing risk.
• Lance Spitzner founded the "Honeynet Project" in 1999.
• The best security awareness officers often do not have technical backgrounds.
• "Once people interact with technology, then the game radically shifts.”
• In general, people are smart.
• Defense organizations tend to have the strongest security programs. At the other end of the spectrum, manufacturing firms.

1. Teach as little as possible (be wary of cognitive overload).
2. Make the new behavior as simple as possible.
3. It has to be “Sue” proof (Can a non-technical person understand it?).

Lance's 3 Takeaways for Making Security Simple (Hint: It's Really, Really Hard) Also, thanks for fielding my question Lance!