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How feedback bias can turn simple nudges into stronger security habits

Have you ever noticed the colored bar when creating a new password?
It shows how well your password complies with the rules. The bar’s color shifts from bright red to green as you type, signaling your progress.
That small change can spark a sense of satisfaction, making the task of finding a cryptic, complex, yet memorable password feel less overwhelming.

This password strength indicator is a perfect example of feedback bias influencing secure behavior.

Feedback bias refers to the way people t…

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The Action Bias: Why Doing Something Isn’t Always Better Than Doing Nothing in Cybersecurity

The Hidden Dangers of Action Bias in Cybersecurity

In the fast-paced world of cybersecurity, we often feel compelled to respond immediately to threats. This tendency, known as action bias, can lead us to make hasty decisions that aren't always best for long-term security.
Understanding and mitigating your action bias is crucial for developing effective and sustainable security practices and avoiding impulsive decisions.

Action bias is about our tendency to favor taking action over inaction, es…

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Simple Secure

Imagine having an imaginary banner hanging over your head with your motto. What would it say? On my banner, it says "Simple Secure". This is my mantra when it comes to IT security. In my opinion, all IT security solutions should be tested for simplicity. If it's not simple, it's not safe.

This is because we all have a bias that makes us choose the easiest and most direct solutions. This bias is called the "path of least resistance," it describes our tendency to prefer easy, manageable solutions. …

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Can you make IT Security Personal?

Of course, you can, and you actually have to!
We humans all have a bias that attracts us to personal messages or contacts. Therefore, it is important that in your work with IT security, you remember to speak directly to your users with a clear sender.

One of the very simple things you can do is create a mailbox. Most people already have one, and it's nothing special.
The special thing is that a real person always answers. This means that you and your colleagues respond for themselves and always…

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Availability-bias-

Do you let recent events affect your judgement when risk evaluating?

The events in our world of cyber get more and more attention from the media, broadcasting the incidents and their sizes.
We all seek this news in our attempt to learn from it to protect ourselves and our organizations, but besides being a source of information, these articles and news posts may affect us more than we know.

Availability bias is a cognitive bias that affects decision-making by relying on information that is easily accessible or easily remembered.

In our cyber realm, availabil…

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What can you learn from IKEA and cake mixes when working with Governance and Compliance?

Do you know the feeling when delegating a task and then receiving the result, you think that you could have done much better yourself? Then you modify it slightly and immediately the value increases significantly?

You are not alone. Several studies indicate that it is inherent in all of us and it even has a name. This is called the IKEA effect.   

The IKEA effect is when we value something we have build ourselves far more than something we are given. It doesn’t have to be anything big, but if we g…

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Do you know the story about the monkey and the icecream?

Have you ever learned a new skill by watching things on YouTube? A crazy dance, a knitting pattern, how to build something or another completely new skill?
Most people take it for granted, but one of our important human abilities is the ability to learn simply by watching others perform an action. That ability is attributed to your mirror neurons.

It is said that mirror neurons were discovered at the University of Parma, where they were conducting studies on which centers in the brain are activate…

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