Daily Archives: April 9, 2022

When it comes to staying safe and secure in our digital worlds, sometimes it can feel like giving up is the only choice. This idea of "security nihilism" isn't new. Security teams have always faced incredibly challenging problems while trying to enable safe and trustworthy experiences across all the technology we use. It can be a difficult trap to overcome for security practitioners, but it's even more dangerous when employees start to feel it. Security nihilism creates new and worsens existing problems that put a company's data and the employees who are stewards of that data at risk.

Unfortunately, security and IT teams can inadvertently cause a sense of security nihilism. Some enterprise security tactics, while well-intentioned, can end up pitting IT and security teams against the employees they're trying to protect. Strategies that rely on scare tactics, that shame employees for making mistakes, or that overwhelm employees with information can lead to frustration and a lack of engagement. Worse, they can cause people to just give up. If breaches seem to be inevitable and getting security right is so difficult and burdensome for employees, why bother?

Security teams must take accountability for keeping employees engaged. It's time to shift the message to empower employees and create a culture where everyone is on the same side. Here are three steps toward that goal.

1. End "Gotcha"-Style Tactics That Shame Employee MistakesBlaming or shaming employees who make mistakes is counterproductive and can lead to security nihilism. Employees can get discouraged and give up, or they won't tell security teams when they receive a phishing email or click on a malicious link. Employees are not part of the problem; they're part of the solution. Security teams can't respond to a threat or a breach if they don't know about it, which means employees are important allies in safeguarding company data.

"Gotcha"-style phishing tests are a good example of this problem. One such test involves emailing all of a company's employees with information about a holiday bonus. The people who click the link are "punished" with more cybersecurity training. Tactics like this create an adversarial dynamic instead of uniting employees, security teams, and IT teams under a shared goal of keeping the company secure. Accountability must shift from employees to security teams. It's unreasonable to expect every employee to be a security expert while trying to do their jobs. The narrative needs to change from blaming employees to asking why they were in a position to make a mistake in the first place.

2. Use Positive Incentives to Combat Security FatigueRewards are far more effective than punishment. Positive incentives can help combat security nihilism, keep employees engaged, and cement a partnership mindset between security teams and employees.

Examples of this can be seen on the consumer security side and have worked well. Epic Games rewards users who enable two-factor authentication on their accounts by giving them new emotes (a dance move or other action you can take in the game Fortnite) and items for their characters. The company recognizes that it has a responsibility and an opportunity to combat end-user security fatigue and add some fun to consumer cybersecurity, which is often negative or overwhelming.

Positive incentives can be provided when employees spot a suspicious email, complete a training, update their password, or admit to a mistake such as sending sensitive data to the wrong person. Organizations don't have to commit a lot of resources to this; recognition and stickers go a long way.

3. Take the FUD Out of Security Awareness TrainingSecurity awareness training has gained a reputation for being boring and irrelevant. It's tempting to use fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) to get employees to pay attention, but a more effective approach involves individualized training that celebrates security wins.

Rather than quarterly, check-the-box training for the entire company, training should be tailored to smaller groups or individuals using relevant, contextualized scenarios. For example, the training for a new remote employee on the sales team could use real-world phishing techniques that commonly target that type of employee. The focus should be on what an individual employee needs to accomplish to detect and prevent security threats and practice safe behavior.

This kind of training also should share and celebrate accomplishments, such as when an employee flags a suspicious request. Highlighting wins and successful outcomes in the face of security risks reinforces the engagement and behavior from employees that are critical for company-wide success.

Security Doesn't Have to Be Scary One of the major roadblocks to protecting company data is security's association with punishment, fear, and difficulty. People tend to ignore or avoid things that are hard and scary, or they simply shrug their shoulders and say, "Who cares?" This nihilistic mindset must be addressed, and it's up to security teams to counteract it.

A better way forward involves creating an environment where employees can do their work while avoiding security risks. Bring them into the fold by rewarding wins, taking the shame out of mistakes, and creating training that celebrates employees as crucial to safeguarding an organization.

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Security Nihilism Is Putting Your Company and Its Employees at Risk - DARKReading

Sienna Miller has revealed in a new interview that she has reached a point of nihilism in her career due to peoples perceptions of her acting capabilities.

Miller, who turned 40 last December, was catapulted to Hollywood fame after her performances in Layer Cake and Alfie, both ofwhich were released in 2004.

However, in part due to her deep-rooted interest in fashion, the British-American actor struggled to win over some viewers and journalists despite several critically acclaimed performances in films such as American Woman, Foxcatcher (2014) and High-Rise (2015).

In a new interview with Elle magazine, Miller admitted that, while she has previously grown frustrated at the fact that her acting talents have repeatedly been underestimated, shes now reached a point of nihilism.

Miller told the publication she isnt sure what else she has to do to be taken seriously as an actor.

I feel like, from a young age, Ive proven myself, she said. Without sounding arrogant, because Im riddled with insecurity and the lowest self-esteem and thats the truth, Im not just saying it but I think Ive reached a point of nihilism, which Im quite happy about.

I dont know whether thats [because of] Covid, but I just dont really care. I do just wish that people would be a bit more original in their thoughts, the Golden Globe-nominated actor continued.

The actor will next be seen in the Netflix drama Anatomy of a Scandal, which is scheduled for release later this month.

In the six-part limited series, Miller plays the role of Sophie Whitehouse, the wife of a politician, whose world is thrown into turmoil after her husband James (Rupert Friend) is accused of rape by a colleague with whom hed had an affair.

Anatomy of a Scandal will be released on Netflix on 15 April.

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Sienna Miller says shes reached a point of nihilism in her acting career - The Independent

They denounce the West as a civilisation that has succumbed to degeneracy and nihilism and, until recently, they glorified Vladimir Putin as a lion of Christianity. The US Religious Right has long toyed with the idea that Mr Putin was sent by God to turn the tide against globohomo liberals who are corrupting the world.

Europes own Right-wing, like Hungarys Viktor Orban and Frances Eric Zemmour, has dabbled in similar ideas. But this love affair between Russias aspiring tsar and the Wests conservatives was always doomed. Post-Bucha, it is beginning to look positively grotesque.

The basis of this coalition on the Western side has always been anxiety about the direction of travel in liberal democracies. Demographic change, statue toppling, gay rights and the transgender wars have convinced certain Christians sects that Western civilisation is beyond redemption. Instead, they have bought into the idea, promoted relentlessly by the Russian Orthodox Church, that Mr Putin is a leader chosen by God, who is now leading a holy war to remake the old Christian empire of Holy Rus and the world.

Do Russian soldiers really believe this? Lieutenant Colonel Azatbek Omurbekov, the so-called butcher of Bucha in charge of the Russian unit stationed in the town, is known to have been blessed by an Orthodox priest before he went off to war. In the Holy Rus vision of the world, Omurbekov was leading a crusade of godly warriors to regather Russian lands and restore them to righteousness. Insofar as Nazism now represents Satanic evil in the modern lexicon, he was also there to denazify Ukraine, as the Kremlin likes to remind us.

Instead, Ukraine states that Russian troops killed at least 300 civilians in cold-blooded attacks in Bucha. Satellite imagery and the interception of messages between Russian soldiers by German intelligence both seem to back this up. But was this a case of bloodlust running out of control or a premeditated strategy? We still dont know the extent or the aim of such crimes.

We do know that the ranks of holy crusaders conducting this war include a surprisingly large number of rapacious mercenaries and inexperienced boys from Russian minorities, many of them Muslim or Buddhist, recruited from remote and impoverished regions of the empire. Rather than bringing back glory and Gods word, they brought only death and returned from their escapades bearing the unmistakeable portent of divine favour: looted fridges.

Meanwhile, far from denazifying Ukraine, Mr Putins regime is steeped in the ideological framework of National Socialism. Ivan Ilyin, the thinker whom Mr Putin quotes most often, was an overt admirer of Hitler and Mussolini, and saw fascism as a model for the revival of tsarism. Martin Heidegger and Carl Schmitt, two thinkers who inspire the Kremlin-endorsed philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, were the intellectual godfathers of Nazism. Nor is Mr Putin averse to a bit of coded Aryanism. In 2005, he paid a special visit to Arkaim, an ancient archaeological site in Russia claimed by its discoverer as the true home of the Aryans and the prehistoric cradle of Russian civilisation.

Unsurprisingly, the leaders of churches around the world have been vocal in condemning the invasion and the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in it. Archbishop Welby, the Pope and Orthodox Church leaders outside Russia, including the most senior patriarch in Constantinople (Istanbul), have all called for Russia to stop this unholy war.

All of this adds up to an awkward picture for the pro-Putin Religious Right. At some point, surely, you have to ask: who is really most responsible for promoting nihilism, fascism and downright evil? Its true that Mr Putin would never hold a gay pride parade. But he would happily preside over ruthless civilian massacres in Europe, as he has before in Syria and Chechnya. I suppose Mr Putins fans will have to pick their poison.

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The US Religious Right's love-affair with Putin now looks positively grotesque - The Telegraph

There is much to be learned from the often overlooked Medieval philosopher Boethius, who composed his magnum opus, the Consolation of Philosophy, while he was in a prison cell awaitingdeath.

Boethius began his work depicting himself completely immersed in misery, I once composed verses with joy! Forced by grief, melancholy measures I now collect. He continued, Torn Muses bid me write- elegies drench my face Poems, once the glory of my green youth, console me now in old ages gloom Death, sorrowful in sweet years, called in sadness is welcomed.

Boethius continued to sulk and plead with the Muses to immerse himself in sadness and woe, when Lady Philosophy appeared and caught sight of the Muses of Poetry standing by my [Boethius] bed, giving me words to suit my tearful mood.

Lady Philosophy was furious and called out, Who let these whorish stage girls come to see a sick man? Its more pain they bring than remedies They make a mind more used to disease, instead of setting it free from pain.

There is far more to this passage than a critique of the Drama Department! The whorish stage girls refer to romanticism, chivalric courtly love (in the literary sense) and idealized masculine hopelessness.

The Medieval Christians found serious wisdom in Lady Philosophys words, and the careful avoidance of the stage whore muse remained more or less prevalent until the rise of Geoffrey Chaucer 700 years later. I would maintain that there is still wisdom in Lady Philosophys words that has been all but disregarded here at UD.

How exactly does this manifest at UD? This can be best answered by looking to a book in the Core: Herman Melvilles Moby Dick. In Chapter Three Ishmael finds himself in the halls of the Spouter Inn, when a painting catches his eye.

Ishmael begins to ponder its meaning, Its the Black Sea in a midnight gale. Its the unnatural combat of the four primal elements. Its a blasted heath. Its a Hyperborean winter scene. Its the breaking-up of the icebound stream of Time.

The painting was nothing more than 19th Century hotel art; a generic painting of a ship at sea. Ishmaels philosophical romanticism led him to later ponder the hopelessness of his way of life in such a desolate world.

How often do we do this here in our city on a hill, overlooking the loud and busy Dallas with our Aristotle in hand, clutching at our philosophical pearls?

Another example is in chapter 94, when Ishmael accidentally squeezes a shipmates hand, and finds himself in ecstasy at his own philosophic genius, Oh! my dear fellow beings, why should we longer cherish any social acerbities, or know the slightest ill-humor or envy! Come; let us squeeze hands all round; nay, let us all squeeze ourselves into each other.

Does this not remind you of the brilliant Freshman who, after reading the first two books of Plato, suddenly believes they have found the way to world peace? Or perhaps of the Upperclassman romanticizing the poverty of Old Mill?

Where does this problem come from in our school? Where does the poison of romanticism corrupt our youth? The most clear answer is the mandatory Lit TradIV course.

The course begins with a perverted, drama-filled love from Jane Austen. How fun is it to be in on the Victorian gossip, sipping our tea while watching peoples lives fall apart!

It is then followed by Ishmael in Moby Dick: a foolish romantic in love with his own intellect. He boards a whaling ship only to see his crewmates perish. What an adventure for young Ishmael to undertake! How misunderstood is his philosophical brilliance!

And after this romanticism is thoroughly ingrained into the minds of UDs students, we are dealt a healthy dose of Russian nihilism, just in case you thought you could do anything to fix the broken world.

I could not think of a better way to create insufferable hopeless romantics, dismayed at the state of the world but too posh to do anything about it!

We need to remove Lit Trad IV from the Core, institute forced hard labor on campus and put Dr. Roper in the stocks for the way he reads the Squeezing of the Hand!

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Remove Lit Trad IV from the Core - University of Dallas University News