Whenever someone says humans are the weakest link in cybersecurity, besides educating through fear, they are crafting a narrative, creating a reality in people's heads, and making them feel helpless against cyber criminals.

My guest, Lianne Potter, feels utterly differently about how to educate people on cybersecurity. Instead of fear, she advocates for empowering them through trust, autonomy, and, above all things, reciprocity.

Lianne is a Cyber Anthropologist, Head of Security Operations at Asda, a published author, host of the Compromising Positions podcast, keynote speaker, and multi-award-winning cybersecurity specialist. She recently won Computing.com's Security Specialist of the Year award, and, in 2021, she was named one of the Security Leaders of the Year and Woman of the Year in the Enterprise category.

This conversation is yet another opportunity to discover the dedication, kindness, and thoughtfulness that brought Lianne all these well-deserved achievements.

Throughout our conversation, she brought her brilliant and unique vision of cybersecurity. We discussed cybersecurity's own microculture in the tech space, its rituals and habits, and how cybersecurity specialists can transform how they educate the people they serve.

Lianne proposed brilliant ideas like ritualizing protection, empowering people through trust and autonomy instead of micromanaging and fear, cultivating the' hero mentality, and more.

Episode highlights:

• The moment Lianne fell in love with cybersecurity (6:40)
• What makes cybersecurity's micro-culture so attractive (10:20)
• The 3 main traits of cybersecurity (14:30)
• Why reciprocity is crucial in cybersecurity (17:20)
• Why trust and autonomy are the biggest gifts cybersecurity can offer (20:00)
• Lianne’s experience with joining her first cybersecurity team (26:30)
• The importance of how we communicate things (37:10)
• Why educating through fear never works (42:00)

Resources Mentioned:

• Lianne on LinkedIn
• Lianne on Twitter / X
• The Compromising Positions podcast
• Lianne on Tom Eston’s Shared Security Podcast
• What is a Cyber Anthropologist? Lianne Potter on The Brainy Business Podcast
• Wearables, Shareables, Unbearables - The IoT and AI Tech Nobody Asked For but Cybercriminals Love!

Let's connect!

• Website
• LinkedIn
• Twitter