Silicon Prairie Cyber Services' Blog

  When your cybersecurity department always says no… eventually they’ll stop asking for permission. WHO IS  THEY ? ‘They’ are your fellow employees, project managers, business leaders, and executives within your company. WHAT DO I MEAN BY PERMISSION? People are smart. Once they discover the answer is always ‘NO’ they’ll simply stop asking. The Cybersecurity department will be excluded from project teams and meetings. WHAT’S THE WORSE THAT CAN HAPPEN? Cybersecurity won’t be built into solutions from the start. When cybersecurity gets bolted on later, it’s more expensive, more complicated, and less effective. Data becomes accessible to the wrong people. You don’t know normal anymore. When you don’t know the approved solutions, it’s 100x more difficult to detect abnormal behavior that’s malicious. You’ll be spending extra hours responding to incidents. HOW CAN YOU LET THE BUSINESS KNOW YOU'RE READY TO LISTEN? Your cybersecurity awareness program is a great tool that can help you ...

  Have you ever tried to find any information on ‘how to stop saying no?’ There’s not a lot out there. Most of the information out there is about the exact opposite problem – 'how to stop saying yes to everything.'   Cybersecurity departments often have a ‘No’ problem. Why? In my experience, we’re a suspicious and risk adverse group. Our knee jerk reaction is always to answer ‘No’. Always saying no creates adversity. When faced with constant adversity, people can suffer from tunnel vision, toxic stress, and rash decisions.   HOW DO WE STOP SAYING NO?   LISTEN TWICE AS MUCH AS YOU TALK People want to be heard People want to be understood People need to know that they're heard and understood When it’s time to talk, summarize what you’re hearing Ask open-ended questions to identify their pain Discover their why Why do they need it? What is the impact if approved? What is the impact if denied?   RELATE TO THE STAKEHOLDERS Don’t fake it Feel their pain Empathy is a p...