The Human Firewall: Building Resilience Against Cyber Deception

Technology will remain one of our biggest security weaknesses; however, today most cyberattacks have a social engineering component, where threat actors target people as the most vulnerable part of the system. As cybersecurity professionals, we are tasked with training our personnel to avoid both simple and complex mistakes while still doing their jobs, delivering good customer experiences, and keeping business running. In recent years, threat actors have dissected business processes to find hidden vulnerabilities, leveraged AI to craft highly realistic scams, exploited employee trust, and even infiltrated corporate ranks from within. This talk will explore the latest techniques for detecting and preventing breaches at the human level, highlight practical approaches to security training, and discuss how we must adapt our business practices to operate under the constant assault on our social systems and trust, well beyond the realm of technology. Takeaways: - Technology isn’t the weakest link, people are. - Training must be practical, not theoretical. - Threat actors evolve, so should we. - Security is a business function, not just IT.