Moving security beyond the generational divide

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At RSA Conference 2020, Ben Smith addressed the need to consider generational differences in the workplace when creating a security strategy.

One of the biggest no-nos in the business world is talking about age. However, I found myself in a session about just that at RSA Conference 2020.

Before your HR radar goes off, this is not about ageism or other common prejudices. It was a talk from Ben Smith, RSA’s Field CTO (US), and it focused more on how today’s workplace really comprises four well-defined generations (traditionalists, baby boomers, Generation X, and millennials), not to mention “cuspers,” or people straddling two of the traditional buckets, who tend to share some traits of both.

The reason this is important for the business world, and the security world in particular, is that the conversation is data-driven, not hypothetical; generations really do consume technology in different ways.

So, when building a security program, you have to understand that one size doesn’t fit all. Smith provided a whole bunch more theory, which you can hear about in the full talk.

As you can see, the bottom three — the youngest — generations focus on information, and they are dynamically opposed. Smith pointed out other generational gaps as well, from having electronics in the bedroom to where work occurs, work/life boundaries, digital media consumption, time on social networks, and more.

With that said, there’s a common denominator, and it can help you build the core of your security program. In the slide below, what really stood out to me as it relates to work and security is the concept of having no on/off switch. How should your security training accommodate that?
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