How does the security industry decide which threats are most dangerous – and which ones should go to the bottom of the priority list? What are the drivers behind the “hot buttons” that make organizations want to spend money on security – or tie up the purse strings? What are the pressure points that make end users – both staffers and top executives – respond to new security threats and practices?
The answer to all of these questions, in many cases, is media. If a new threat plays high in the Wall Street Journal, you can bet top executives will be asking their security managers about it the same day. If a breach affects a million people, it will get attention in the data center – but a spear phishing attack on a top company may not. In these cases – and in many more – the prioritization of a new security threat is done not by security professionals, but by reporters and PR professionals who make their own subjective decisions about the value of the news and the nature of the threat. But are these priorities correct? Does the media have the data it needs to make these sorts of value judgments? Are the “sexiest” threats really the most dangerous to your organization?
In this unique session, you’ll get a firsthand look at how security news is developed and selected, and how the media are influenced by many different sources and contributors. We’ll discuss what’s wrong with the current security news cycle, and how it may influence corporate executives (and even security professionals) to make the wrong choices about threat priority. And we’ll offer some tips for filtering and analyzing the news that you (and your superiors) get from the media, so that you’re making educated decisions on new threats and breaking developments in the security space.