Char Sample, "The Role of Culture in Cybersecurity"

Distinguished social psychologist Geert Hofstede
observed the “dominance of technology over culture is
an illusion. The software of the machines may be globalized, but
the software of the minds that use them is not.”  The role of
culture in the thought process is so prevalent, yet unstated, that
many cultural beliefs and biases are accepted as truths.  These
cultural beliefs and biases are commonly infused into behavioral
norms identifying behaviors that can be observed.  While
historically,these observations have taken place in the physical
realm, this talk discusses the findings of cultural markers in the
cyber realm.

Dr. Sample presents and discusses recent
interdisciplinary, evidence-based research using culture-based
models of various cyber actors (attackers, defenders and victims)to
explain observations in cybersecurity behaviors. These studies were
performed over the past several years using public data found in
the Zone-H archives. The mining of the Zone-H archives with over 10
million records of raw data allowed for research into behaviors,
choices and reasons. By using Hofstede’s cultural framework to
define culture along with some basic inferential statistics,
specific digital identifiers were associated with cultural
dimensions, allowing for more accurate modeling of cyber actors
based on cultural values.  The results supported Nisbett’s
observation that people “think the way they do because of the
nature of the societies they live in”.

The  discussion centers on the six dimensions of culture,
the values associated with each dimension and examples of those
values in cyber space. The six cultural dimensions measure views on
values of self-determination, collectivism, aggression,nurturing,
uncertain outcomes, holism, instant gratification, and levels of
societal openness.  The behavioral traits that associate with the
cultural values are behavioral traits that are consistent with
cyber behaviors.