Fear, Empathy, and Team Spirit: The Psychology of Cybersecurity Communication

SANS Security Awareness: Managing Human Risk Summit 2024

Fear, Empathy, and Team Spirit: The Psychology of Cybersecurity Communication

Speaker: David Shultz, Founder, Sans Serif

Understanding motivation is relatively straightforward when marketing consumer products like sneakers or cars. It becomes more complex when persuading internal audiences to improve data security practices. Corporate objectives don’t always naturally translate into messages that both capture attention and resonate on a personal level. However, other behavior-change campaigns offer valuable insights. This session will look at compelling past (and current) mission-critical campaigns that range from WWII secrecy posters to airline safety videos and even Smokey the Bear. We’ll break down the motivational strategies behind these varied approaches—weighing the relative effectiveness of fear, empathy and/or team spirit. We’ll also look at how the examples leverage entertainment and humor to engage audiences—even when the underlying subject matter is serious. For years, this analysis has informed cybersecurity creative at one of the nation’s largest networking companies, and it can provide inspiration and insights for other organizations encountering similar challenges.

View upcoming Summits: http://www.sans.org/u/DuS

This video is part of the SANS Security Awareness. Learn more at https://www.sans.org/security-awarene...