CYBERSECURITY CAREER PROFESSIONAL PAPER
NAME: DUUT EMMANUEL
DATE: 04/13/2025
TITLE: BRIDGING SOCIAL SCIENCE AND CYBERSECURITY: THE ROLE OF ANALYTICAL INSIGHT IN PROTECTING SOCIETY
THE ROLE OF SOCIAL SCIENCE IN THE WORK OF A CYBERSECURITY ANALYST?
I think that studying cybersecurity and social sciences gives me new and important insights into cybersecurity, especially into the job of cybersecurity analysts. To deal with the human side of cyber risks, these experts integrate ideas from social science principles into their technical frameworks. There are studies and ideas from the social sciences that are used by cybersecurity experts to predict and lower risks, make user-centered solutions, and think about the social effects of cybersecurity, especially on groups that aren’t well-represented.
FIGURING OUT HOW PEOPLE ACT AND HOW TO GET THEM TO DO WHAT YOU WANT
People who work in cybersecurity must deal with risks that come from both bugs in technology and bad behavior in people. Cyber dangers are usually caused by people messing up, like forgetting their passwords or falling for phishing scams. Analysts need to know about cognitive errors and patterns of behavior to come up with good answers. Analysts use behavioral psychology to understand why people use the same bad passwords or don’t follow security rules. For example, they can spot overconfidence or optimism bias.
With this information, analysts create systems that lower risks by using “choice architecture,” which sets default safety measures like strong password requirements to encourage users to behave securely (The Role of Social Science in the Career of a Security Analyst |, 202Р).Human factors, a term from the social sciences, are also used to help make training and awareness programs to fight phishing scams and other forms of social engineering. Analysts tailor communication training to the cultural and demographic background of the target audience by utilizing realistic scenarios. The Role of Social Science in the Career of a Security Analyst (2024) studies have indicated that training programs that include social science-informed communication are more successful at changing people’s behavior to be more aware of cybersecurity.
SOCIETAL INEQUALITIES AND INCLUSIVE SECURITY DESIGNING
Cybersecurity experts need to work on reducing the social and economic gaps that make underprivileged groups more likely to be hacked. For example, disadvantaged groups often don’t have the access or tools they need to protect themselves from online threats, which makes inequality even worse. “The Role of Social Science in the Career of a Security Analyst | 2024” says that analysts use social science research to find these gaps in digital equity and come up with solutions that work for everyone, like multilingual educational programs and cheap security tools for communities that don’t speak English as their first language or are struggling financially.
The creation of trustworthy and easy-to-use protection tools is another important use. For example, security systems that use artificial intelligence (AI) can act unfairly toward disadvantaged groups by violating people’s privacy rights in low-income places. According to The Role of Social Science in the Career of a Security Analyst (2024), analysts use ethical models from social science to create technology that strikes a balance between usefulness, fairness, and openness. This ensures equitable treatment for all users. This method from different fields is important because technology is affecting society and ethics in security in more and more ways.
KEEPING MARGINALIZED GROUPS AND SOCIETY SAFE
Cybersecurity analysts play a crucial role in safeguarding society, particularly the vulnerable groups that cyberattacks tend to target. Cyberattacks hurt weak communities, small businesses, and nonprofits more than others, making it harder for them to get to important services like healthcare, education, and financial possibilities, according to research. Analysts fix these problems by working with businesses to improve defense systems in places that don’t have enough of them. For instance, nonprofits that offer important services to a billion vulnerable individuals have become prime targets for cybercriminals, prompting analysts to create cybersecurity measures tailored to their unique needs (Alexandru LAZAR, 2024).
Applying social science concepts ensures a fair evaluation of cyber threats based on their effects. As an example, communities that rely on virtual platforms during crises like the pandemic face unique problems because of differences in technology. Cybersecurity experts use social science to help resolve these problems by pushing for easier access to the internet and using ethical data-handling practices to keep private data safe (The Growing Importance of a Career in Cybersecurity | CCU Online, n.d.).
THE INTEGRATION OF SOCIAL SCIENCE INTO CYBERSECURITY DAILY ROUTINE
A cybersecurity analyst’s daily tasks often go beyond technical analysis and include figuring out how users interact with technology and helping people from different teams work together. Social science principles help experts figure out how to get people to work together to solve cybersecurity problems in a more complete way. For instance, the idea of dialectical security stresses how important it is to have open conversations and work together to create systems that consider different user views and expected risks. To reduce events involving victim behavior, like quick response systems for phishing attacks or user-support systems (The Role of Social Science in the Career of a Security Engineer, 2024), this method is especially important.
Furthermore, social science studies help organizations make policies and decisions that stop cybercrime before it happens again. Cybersecurity experts look for weaknesses and develop solutions to address both technical and human vulnerabilities by studying new cyber threats and societal trends. Why Cybersecurity Analysts Need to Know Social Sciences (2023) says that this forward-looking use of social science makes sure that analysts are ready to deal with the changing nature of cybersecurity dangers.
IN CONCLUSION
The role of cybersecurity analysts in the area of cybersecurity shows how technology and social sciences can work together. Social science principles help researchers understand and reduce human risks, make systems that are fair and honest for everyone, and help make society more resistant to cyber threats. By focusing on underrepresented groups, analysts help close the digital gap and make sure that improvements in cybersecurity benefit all communities equally. Adding social sciences to cybersecurity creates a framework that is complete, fair, and moral. This improves society’s safety in a digital age where people’s actions and interactions are at the center of security issues. As someone who will soon work as a cybersecurity professional after graduating from Old Dominion University, I realize how important it is to consider both technological and social changes when creating a safe and welcoming digital world.