Cybersecurity and Social Science Career Paper
Bridgette Chapman
4/7/2024
Cybersecurity and Social Science
Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) act as the frontline of the defense against a wide range of digital issues, such as cyber incidents and human mistakes. Technical skills, however, continue to be relevant as cyber risks are intrinsically complex and call for a human understanding of behavior, market environment, and societal implications (Payne & Hadzhimova, 2020). In this regard, social science research and principles are the key instruments that inform the CISO’s job and approach to cybersecurity issues.
One of the major aspects of the CISO’s role is to acknowledge that a remarkable number of security issues result from human mistakes. According to the CYSE201S module, almost 90% of security incidents are caused by the human factor. This demonstrates how social science research plays a crucial role in understanding the human element of impulsivity, low self-control, and other factors that can increase the risk of a cybersecurity breach (Wilner, 2018). Social science principles allow CISOs to adjust their security plans to address human vulnerabilities, ensuring that security measures defeat cyber-attacks and therefore have minimal influence on society. Social scientific research offers valuable information about human behavior, decision-making processes, and motivations. These are critical for developing CISO-effective security policies and strategies. CISOs can conduct studies and learn the factors causing people to take risky behaviors such as bypassing security protocols that can assist them in making better decisions in controlling the growth of cyber threats. In social behaviors and values learning, CISOs are capable of determining insider threats, and that is a potential vulnerability in the networks (Auger et al., 2021). Basically, the principles of social sciences also help CISOs to have clear, productive communication with all stakeholders, and they also explain to them the level of risk, strategies to avoid it, and policies.
The ethical dilemmas are another key area of cybersecurity practices for CISOs. Integration of ethics standard rules helps CISOs block actions that are against laws and morality, thus building trust and reliability domains. Moreover, the criminology framework assists CISOs in understanding cyber threats better, investigating cyber incidents, and developing strategies to control cybercrime (Ozkaya, 2022). Through the analysis of diversity and civic duty, CISOs focus on insider threats, the restoration of trust, and the upholding of organizational values.
The CYSE201S module indicates that women and minorities are not well represented in cybersecurity, and the research shows that only 11% of cybersecurity workers are female. This underlines the role of the Chief Information Security Officers in mitigating digital risks for vulnerable groups. CYSE201S states that marginalized groups like minority communities, disabled people, and low-income groups may experience different cybersecurity difficulties influenced by factors like inadequate resources, discrimination, and ignorance. CISOs can be instrumental in an obligatory position in the guarding of digital rights of marginalized groups, contending for equality in secure virtual services, and countering the cyber threats that heavily affect those communities (Auger et al., 2021). CISOs can sort out the digital divide by granting cyber security education, resources, and support to these groups, with the objective of empowering them to divulge into the online space safely (Jethwani et al., 2017). This enables CISOs to reduce the risks of cyber exploitation by addressing the cybersecurity needs of these communities.
CISOs are partially shaped by a cross-section of technical and social skills. They have to look into the vulnerabilities primarily of end-users and communicate in a way appropriate to the general public with the use of nontechnical terminology and risk management principles (Wilner, 2018). For CISOs, continuous learning is very important so that they can always be informed about security trends, network vulnerabilities, and the newest possibilities (Ozkaya, 2022). Collaboration and teamwork are also critically important, as understanding human hurdles and human behaviors helps accelerate tackling cybersecurity challenges.
Through social science research and principles, CISOs can learn how organizations function, what communication patterns exist and what cultural norms are in place which are crucial for CISOs to create a security culture (Ozkaya, 2022). Applying those principles from organizational psychology and communication studies can be used as CISOs’ guide for formulating communication strategies to be more acceptable with stakeholders at all levels of an organization. Having CISOs become aware of the organizational culture, they can identify possible resistance to security initiatives and suggest change management strategies to deal with resistance and obtain support from employees.
Chief Information Security Officers extensively use social science research and principles to unravel the complexities around cybersecurity and keep organizations and society safe from cyber-attacks. Through bringing social science principles to their everyday roles, the CISOs can make possible the measures that are critically needed for the protection of the integrity, confidentiality, and reliability of the networks and ensuring the safety and health of individuals and the community as a whole. The CISOs’ continued engagement in the social sciences efforts adds to the creation of a safer and more inclusive digital world for all.
References
Auger, G., Scott, J. “., Helmus, J., Nguyen, K., & Heath “The Cyber Mentor” Adams. (2021). Cybersecurity career master plan: Proven techniques and effective tips to help you advance in your cybersecurity career. Packt Publishing.
CYSE201S. Modules.
Jethwani et al. (2017). I can actually be a cyber sleuth: Engaging adolescent girls in cybersecurity.
Ozkaya, E. (2022). Cybersecurity leadership demystified: A comprehensive guide to becoming a world-class modern cybersecurity leader and global CISO. Packt Publishing.
Payne & Hadzhimova (2020). Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Trends in Cybercrime Research: An Examination.
Wilner, A. (2018). Cybersecurity and its discontents: Artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and digital misinformation.