Article Review #2
Johnny Gomez-Reyes
CYSE 201s
Professor Yalpi
8 April 2025
Article Review 2: Bridging Knowledge and Motivation in
Software Security: A Social Science Perspective
Introduction
BLUF: I looked at how developers gain security knowledge and what pushes them to use
it in Software Security in Practice: Knowledge and Motivation by Assal, Morkonda, Arif, and
Chiasson (2025). Based on my reading this study displays an important issue with current
cybersecurity. Tackling security issues demands not only technical fixes but also a knowledge of
the people who write the code.
The Relation to Social Science Principles
There are many social science concepts of behavior, learning, and organizational impacts
and are all strongly related to my discussion. It involves human behavior, collaboration, and
personal motivation which are all key concepts in psychology and sociology. From what I read in
Assal et al. (2025), the study connects the gap between technological areas and the social
sciences by focusing on how developers learn and decide to apply security methods.
Important Research Questions and Hypotheses A question I picked up on is how the authors wanted to discover where developers learn
about security and what encourages or discourages them from using it in their work. They
hypothesized that learning experiences and both internal and external motivating factors
influence the decisions made by developers. If security is an important part of their workflow or
an afterthought depends on these factors.
Research Methods
Software engineers from different backgrounds participated in semi structured interviews
done by Assal et al. (2025) as part of their qualitative research. The researchers were able to
gather extensive and detailed data regarding individual behaviors, experiences, and difficulties
when using secure coding techniques thanks to this method.
Data and Analysis
In their study to find patterns in narrative data they used thematic coding to look at the
interviews. This helped them discover and find common traits that can influence
developers approaches to security, including time restrictions, lack of consistent training, and
reliance on peer learning (Assal et al., 2025).
How it connects to Course Concepts
The article affirms a number of important ideas from our course including the importance
of drive in cybersecurity and the notion of “security culture.” It also reinforces the notion that
human aspects must be taken into account for security to be completely successful which is a
point that social science debates of cyber conduct have placed an important focus on.
The Impact on Marginalized Groups I noticed that the journal points out that access to high quality security education and
mentorship can possibly be unequal even though it does not specifically study underrepresented
communities. The report stresses the need to make sure that all developers regardless of
experience have fair access to trustworthy, inclusive security resources by pointing out how
developers usually rely on informal learning (Assal et al., 2025).
How it contributes to Society
By giving a more deep and human centered approach to cybersecurity study I think helps
society. I think that creating a stronger cyber security needs businesses to look past technological
improvements and take into account how environment, learning, and motivation and other
aspects shape secure behavior (Assal et al., 2025).
Conclusion
A strong argument for applying behavioral and motivational data into cybersecurity
measures was presented by Assal et al. (2025). Based on their results building a secure software
is a human task as well as a technical one, affected by how people interact, learn, and get
meaning from their work. I think this focused on people approach gives a way forward for
cybersecurity tactics that are more inclusive and successful.
References
Assal, H., Morkonda, S. G., Arif, M. Z., & Chiasson, S. (2025). Software security in practice:
knowledge and motivation. Journal of Cybersecurity, 11(1).
https://doi.org/10.1093/cybsec/tyaf005