Forcepoint’s Richard Ford: Understanding Human Behavior Could Help Manage Cyber Risks

Richard Ford, chief scientist at Forcepoint, wrote in a Fifth Domain opinion piece published Wednesday that organizations seeking to address cybersecurity risks should shift their focus towards human behavior amid evolving threats.

“By understanding the human, we can manage risk, abstract away much of the technology, and focus on what matters: how people interact with data,” Ford said.

“By way of transparency, I firmly believe that humans do represent a fixed point in the ever-rippling fabric of cyberspace.”

He noted that security teams seeking to help end users in the decision-making process should have better understanding of the technology and people as well as the human-in-the-loop concept.

Ford also discussed the potential benefits of adopting a user-centric security approach and mentioned several questions agency chief information security officers should ask when choosing the right partner.