Fighting malware and spam

User education: teaching techniques and learning styles for damage limitation

Peter Cooper Sophos

The weakest component in a secure network is the person between the keyboard and the chair. Numerous worms and viruses rely on human nature to propagate. Even after countless emails from your IT department on the subject, your users still insist on running enticing email attachments that slip through the net. Why do they do this? Are they deliberately ignoring you? Are they all revelling in Schadenfreude?

No, they are not. You are not warning them in the right way.

What you are telling them is correct, but you are telling them in the wrong way. People are wildly different to each other. They absorb information in different ways. With this in mind, you need to be able to educate them in different ways. Finding the right method for the right people will reinforce your message, regardless of whether it relates to email attachments.

This paper will focus on established learning styles and teaching techniques that can be used in business environments. In addition, it will use case studies that you can adapt for your organisation. You will learn how pragmatists work, how activists tackle problems, how adult learning styles differ from person to person and a whole lot more.