Security Insights

Hacktivism's changing faces

Hacktivist groups have been around almost as long as the public internet.

But their make up, and their goals, have changed.

Hacktivism is no longer about "hacker" or counter culture or protest. Instead, it appears increasingly aligned with political objectives.

And some of today's  groups at the very least aligned to, if not sponsored, by nation states.

Perhaps hacktivism is no longer the right term. Researchers are now talking about groups that set out to undermine trust in both the online and physical worlds, and carry out what some security researchers call “cognitive warfare”.

As part of its 2025 Security Navigator report Orange Cyberdefense tracked one hacktivist group in detail. Our guest is their head of security research. In this episode, he tells editor Stephen Pritchard what his team have discovered, from watching one particular group, and a renewed interest in hacktivism more broadly.

Security and AI: Jon France, CISO, ISC2

AI poses risks to security, through possible flaws in the applications themselves, and by AI being used by threat actors to develop malware and improve their targeting.

 

But there’s also plenty who argue that AI offers a chance to improve security. Certainly there are plenty of vendors promoting AI-enhanced versions of their products, promising to react faster, and pick up more threats.

Which side, though, will win out? And should cybersecurity professionals fear AI, or see it as an ally?

Our guest this week is Jon France, CISO at ISC Two. On the back of the organisation’s recent Cybersecurity Workforce Study, he discusses AI, good and bad, with editor Stephen Pritchard.

 

Cyber stress: are we burning out?

Is stress unavoidable, if you work in cyber?

And does workplace stress in the industry threaten security?

Stress and burnout among cyber teams are now a real worry for CISOs. And our guest for this episode argues that they should be a concern for boards too.

Stressed-out operators underperform and make mistakes. Burned out staff are more likely to leave, forcing firms to spend more on hiring and training replacements.

So how should employers spot the signs of stress? And what can we do as individuals to avoid burn out?

Our guest is Katie Maycock, of GYST Wellbeing.

Insights Interview: Geopolitics and cyber threats, with the ISF's Steve Durbin

Geopolitics is increasingly influencing cybersecurity.

The growth of online espionage, the potential for attacks by state actors, and governments turning a blind eye to cybercrime are all increasing risk.

At the same time, our growing dependency on connectivity, in government, in critical infrastructure and for day to day business, makes cyberspace an attractive target.

But it's not always been this way. In the early days of information and IT security, nation state threats were rare.

But, as Steve Durbin, CEO of the Information Security Forum points out, a lot has changed over the last few decades, and especially in the last few years.

In this Insights Interview editor Stephen Pritchard asks whether we are now more at risk than ever, if the current level of cyber threats could spill over into a more overt conflict and whether organisations have the resources to operate in a more dangerous world.

Deepfakes: uncovering the security risks

There's a lot being said (and written) about deepfakes.

And there is no doubt that they can now be very convincing, to the point where they can deceive the human eye.

But are deepfakes just a bit of fun, or do they pose real security risks? Do the dangers lie in manipulating public opinion through fake news, or can deepfakes be used to breach security systems.

Our guest, Dr Andrew Newell, academic researcher and chief scientific officer at iProov, argues that both are happening. Security teams need to take steps to block deepfakes from compromising identity systems, but we all need to guard against their wider influence.

Interview by Stephen Pritchard

SaaS and security: shared responsibility, or hidden risks?

Software as a service, or SaaS, has been a huge success. There are now some 30 thousand SaaS applications on the market worldwide. These cover everything from niche requirements to running entire businesses.

The SaaS revolution has certainly brought benefits to businesses.

But are SaaS applications secure and robust enough? Supporters of SaaS argue that their applications are actually safer and more resilient than locally-run IT.

However, Cloud vendors, including SaaS companies, rely on the shared responsibility model. In simple terms, they look after the infrastructure, but the customer is responsible for their data.

This can leave organisations with real problems, if their data is inaccessible, or even deleted.

This could be down to human error, malicious actions, such as a ransomware attack, or even a SaaS provider failure.

Our guest today is Simon Taylor, Founder and CEO of HYCU. He believes that SaaS users need to take more control of their data, even when it's in a SaaS application.

Investing in cyber: should we follow the money?

Europe's cybersecurity industry is worth some $50bn and is growing at 10% a year.

It's also pretty fragmented – at least when it comes to vendors. Europe -- even more so than the US -- is now ready for market consolidation.

Some of that is being driven by acquisitions by the large technology firms, as they look to broaden their cybersecurity offerings.

But firms, and their investors, are looking for scale.

And CISOs are looking for simplicity and greater security. Could vendor consolidation achieve this? And what is the role of cybersecurity "platforms" as the industry changes shape?

Our guest is Mark Smith, of advisory firm Houlihan Lokey.

Interview by Stephen Pritchard.

Cyber escape rooms - and experiential learning

Conventional security training leaves a lot to be desired.

So what can CISOs do, to deliver training and security awareness in a way that is effective, and engaging?

Over the last few episodes we've discussed both the psychology, and human factors, around cybersecurity. To finish the series, in this programme we will look at experiential learning, or learning by doing.

Our guest is Amy Stokes-Waters. She delivers exactly that, by running escape rooms for organisations who want to improve security awareness, but want to move away from slide-heavy courses, and checkbox compliance. She's also written a paper on experiential learning in cybersecurity.

But does it work? She discusses cyber escape rooms, learning theory, and the pros and cons of measurement with editor Stephen Pritchard.

Human Risk Management: tackling cybersecurity's weak spot

How do we manage the risks posed by human behaviour?

In this, the second of our short series exploring the links between human behaviour and security, we look at the emerging field of human risk management.

The statistics are quite frightening: 90 per cent of security breaches involve human error or social engineering.

But how do we, at a business level, categorise those risks? If we don’t understand the risks, we can’t reduce them.

A better understanding of where the risks are – and which behaviours are risky – makes it easier to design counter measures, such as training.

Our guests this week are Lev Lesokhin and Charlotte Jupp, of OutThink – an firm that’s pioneering human risk management.

We discuss what human risk management involves, and how security teams can make use of it, without crossing privacy boundaries.

 

Mind games: the psychology of cybersecurity

How important is human behaviour in cybersecurity? How well do we know our people, and do we understand the risks posed by individuals' actions?

Research suggests that the overwhelming majority of cyber breaches start with human error or poor practice. But despite investments in security training and security awareness, we still make mistakes.

Over the next three episodes, we will examine some of the human factors around cybersecurity, including human risk management, and how we change behaviour.

We'll start the series by looking at the psychology of cybersecurity, as well as how to measure change.

Our guest is Dr Thea Mannix, a neuroscientist and head of research at Praxis Security Labs