Personal message to the information security awareness community
transcript:
So here we are, in this world. Trying to survive, trying to understand, trying to remember who we are, amidst constant drifting changes… and then one day, when we arrive to work someone presents us with a new requirement that says “you must learn this! You must understand it. You must change!”
And we look at it and tell ourselves “change? I barely hold myself together. Change??? The last thing in the world I need right now is another change of another force that I have no clue how to handle. About computers that remind me how alienated I am to myself anyway which makes me feel even more inclined to do any change. But yes, it is work, so I will try to do that, and saw all those things that I see in the news that tells me that this is scary and if I don’t change I would be hurt, and I don’t want to feel pain, I will try to change, but I don’t understand how to change. If I had the ability to change, believe me, there was a list of things that I would have changed, but I am already feeling helpless and useless in the inability to change this life that I am in.”
I mean, be honest, we try to change, and it seems we managed to, and then we are happy, and than we recognise that nothing had changed. So we go in and out, on and off, and we are lost.
My beloved, wonderful information security community:
THIS
IS
YOUR
TARGET
AUDIENCE
This is who you wish to “educate”, “teach”, “change”.
I know it doesn’t seems like that, but trust me, if it wasn’t like that then all the bars in this magnificent country would have gone broke because nobody would have entered them. And the tobacco companies would have been broke, and the sugar industry would have to move to organic cucumber manufacturing.
But we are not in that state.
Recognise your target audience. If you don’t recognise who you are suppose to work with what on earth would be your criteria to success when you haven’t even identified the individuals you wish to touch?
Awareness, ANY awareness can only come from a place of stillness, of silence, of observing this thing we call life via the most intimate feeling of love and compassion, which is the source of what all we are.
My dear friends, I’m well aware that we developed this magnificent schemes of training facilities, and training instruments, and awareness industry. Yet none of it is as effective as a loving hug of your target audience, acknowledging their pain, embracing them for what they are, loving them for what they are. And then – ONLY THEN we can talk about passwords, and heartbleeds, and all the other things.
If you wish, truly wish to change the awareness of your organisation, you can, as long as it is being done from deep sense of love and compassion, and understanding to what you’re trying to do.
Who are you? Ask yourself, and discover the truth.