Humans are irrational thinkers and are a part of cybersecurity systems. Humans must be understood like any other form of technology used in any computer system. We must understand the development of the human mind. In other words, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the human mind? Humans differ from technology in that humans are unlikely to change much. We design machines to have new features and architecture constantly, which isn’t possible for the human brain. Thus, technologies must change to be like the brain to make computer systems more effective and not the other way around. Cybersecurity professionals should consider the psychology of error and manipulation to create technology that complements the human brain. Unfortunately, this is an incredibly challenging feat to accomplish as we still don’t understand the complexities of the human mind. These memes that I have created relate to human-centered cybersecurity in which computer systems should be created with humans in mind. However, creating psychology-aware systems is a major challenge for security technology and will be an existing issue for a long time. Thus, effective cybersecurity systems will depend on humans making good decisions or else, the humans that made the mistake get blamed, which indicates the human needs to be fixed. An issue with blaming humans is that they’re not part of the system, and the failures happen within the technology. Overall, understanding human errors and why they occur can lead to better design of security systems and allow humans to better engage with cybersecurity. 

Cybersecurity awareness training: “When you see a suspicious email in your inbox, do not open its attachments or links.” 

One person: Accidentally opens link of suspicious email to have login credentials stolen. 

Scrolling mindlessly for hours through someone’s social media page to learn about that person in greater detail. 

The face after wiring money to a friend after learning it’s a scam.