Psychology of Cybersecurity

Tarnveer Singh is an award‑winning Chief Information Security Officer with decades of security experience across a wide range of sectors. He is Director (Security and Compliance) at Cyber Wisdom Ltd, an Information Security and Compliance Consultancy, helping clients to address security threats affecting their business. He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Information Security and a Chartered IT Professional with the British Computer Society.Sarah Y. Zheng, PhD, is a neuropsychologist investigating emerging crime and security risks from technological advances. Through her research, she helps organisations become more resilient to phishing attacks and improve people’s awareness of new (cyber)security threats. Before returning to academia, she developed AI applications and worked in data science for financial, retail, and government institutes. With her unique understanding of both people and technology, her mission is to protect the human element in technology.

• Foreword Part 1: Enter the world of cybercrimeChapter 1: Most cybercriminals are made, not born Chapter 2: Hackers: the good, the bad, and the ugly Hacktivism Once a hacker, always a hacker? Notorious hackers Interviews with real-life cybercriminals Chapter 3: How an attack is devised Selecting targets Skills that make attacks succeed Social engineering attacks: hacking people’s minds Ransomware attacks Exploiting misconfigurationsChapter 4: Special cases Insider threatsThe impact of insider threatsWhistleblowers Third party and supply chain risks Impact of cyber-attacks on trust Part 2: Inside the line of defence Chapter 5: Operational cybersecurity context Pressures of the job Cybersecurity needs diversityWhy work in cybersecurity Chapter 6: Human fallacies and how to overcome them Biases affecting threat analysis Biases affecting risk management Chapter 7: Operational resilience PeopleProcesses Technology Business continuity Chapter 8: Organisational psychology Chapter 9: Improving organisational cybersecurity Good governance Better training and educationSecurity by design Organisational cybersecurity culture Cybersecurity champions Nudge programs Situational crime prevention Part 3: The target´s perspective Chapter 10: Psychology applied in cybersecurity Opening the black box Brains: natural prediction machines Chapter 11: How we take the bait Technical people have human brains too Know yourself to protect yourself Part 4: The Psychology of a Chief Information Security Officer (CISO)Chapter 12: Responsibilities of a CISO The SECCRRT to effective CISOs Leading the psychology and cybersecurity integration Shaping the organisation´s psychological security posture Getting security buy-in across the board Chapter 13: Psychological toll on CISOs Managing riskManaging the executive teamOvercoming stress and building resilience Chapter 14: Concluding remarks Glossary