It’s prediction season again, and I bet the majority of those predictions leave out a core consideration in cybersecurity—the Human Element. This past year, I had the privilege of participating in the RSAC Program Committee for the Human Element track. It was great to see a wide range of submission topics as well as some growing maturity when it comes to integrating the often-overlooked human dimension in our industry. I’m excited to share the dominant trends as they pertain to this track and highlight what I believe to be an evolution toward approaching cybersecurity through a socio-technical lens.
So Last Year…
For so long, cybersecurity has leaned upon the ‘users are the weakest link’ trope, which in turn has limited security-related advances in human-computer interaction. However, as Martijn Grooten has concisely summarized, humans are features, not bugs. Based on the range of submissions this year, this notion is gaining traction, with the human element moving beyond a buzzword and gaining greater research maturity. There is decreasingly the intrinsic need for justifying why the human element matters. Instead we are progressing into some impactful research areas with significant societal impact—a welcome change. As this year’s submissions illustrate, this shift opens up a range of exciting, applied research areas.
2020 Dominant Trends
Industry introspection: Burnout was a popular topic as many considered its long-term effects on the security workforce. It is a concern that has been gaining traction for several years, but the increase in screen time and a never-off workday that many encountered with the move to a distributed workforce has elevated these concerns. Given the rise in burnout across industrie ..
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