Governing Risk and the Information Silo Problem: Engineering a Systemic Cultural and Communications Solution for Cyber

Abstract

Cyberattack may be the single biggest threat to enterprises of any size. Corporate directors are required to manage and mitigate such risks. Cybersecurity is currently an expensive and ineffective mess. All too often cyber defense is viewed through any of several myopic lenses, for example, as primarily a “code” or “crypto” problem. However, contemporary cybersecurity requires a systemic engineering approach that recognizes the organizational, cultural and social psychological barriers to effectively dealing with this problem. As with most things in life, effective communications is the key to organizing disparate groups of humans into collective behavioral change needed to accomplish a common objective - in this case, effective cybersecurity. At the most fundamental level our basis cyber problem is that we have at least three diverse groups of cyber constituents (individuals, government, and business) who lack a behavioral pattern of talking with each other very much. Worse than that, sub cultures within these groups have developed folkways over time where candor has not been rewarded and telling inconvenient truths to superiors about major problems has become systematically discouraged. Therefore, navigating the cyber ecosystem and structuring effective solutions to the cyber problem will require recognizing and overcoming difficult truths about organizational and human behavior. To be truly useful, this paper must identify and provide a schematic to break down the communication silos existing in and between academia, industry, governments, and among the general population. To be effective, this paper must be read and discussed. My hope is that this brief essay will influence the dialogue regarding national approaches required to organize, equip and conduct aggressive defensive and deterrent activities in the information sphere.